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ELISHA PEKKINS DODGE 



ELISHA PEKKINS DODGE 

1847-1902 






CAMBRIDGE 
PinteU at tfie EttetdtHe H^vzse 

1903 



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COISTTEJSTTS 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 1 

By Nathan N. Withzngton 

THE MEMORIAL SERVICE . ' . . . . 60 

Remarks of John J. Currier . . . .60 

Address of Moses Brown .... 63 

Address of Charles A. Bliss . . . .71 

PRESS NOTICES 89 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

BY NATHAN N. WITHINGTON 



Elisha Perkins Dodge was born in Ipswich, 
Massachusetts, October 5, 1847, of a family of 
the best Puritan stock on both sides. His an- 
cestors, in the direct Dodge line, had been for 
over two hundred years residents of Essex 
County. Richard Dodge settled in Salem in 
1638, and Elisha was of the seventh generation 
of his descendants, his intermediate ancestors, 
most of them farmers, having dwelt successively 
in Beverly, Hamilton, and Ipswich. One of his 
great-grandfathers was a brother of Nathan 
Dane, the jurist and statesman. His father, Na- 
than Dane Dodge, was a farmer in easy circum- 
stances who had increased the paternal acres 
and reared a large family in the strictness of 
Puritan faith and morals. He was a man who 
commanded and deserved the respect and affec- 
tion of the community in which he lived, and 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

was beloved and revered by his family. The 
observance of family prayer was maintained in 
his household, and the rehgious influences were 
those of the orthodox New England type, strict 
but kindly, under which the parents were looked 
up to with as strong feelings of reverence as of 
affection. He was a man of great energy and 
industry, of sound mind and strong body, a 
leading man in the community and in the 
church, a worthy representative of the strong, 
independent, God-fearing men who gave char- 
acter and direction to the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts. 

The mother, Sarah Perkins Shepherd, was 
born in Deerfield, N. H., and was a woman of 
marked character and amiability, of whom one 
of her sons said, " My mother had the best dis- 
position — I make no exceptions — the best of 
any person I ever knew." To this pair were 
born eleven children, of whom the youngest 
was Elisha Perkins, who was fortunate in being 
born of such parentage, and in a family of 
brothers and sisters whose influence was favor- 
able to the development of the best traits of 
his character. 

From early childhood Elisha was in body and 
2 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



mind in advance of his years. He learned to 
read without being regularly taught, by observ- 
ing his older brothers and sisters, and at the 
age of four, when he went to school, he was in 
size and maturity of appearance and mental 
power on an equality with children several 
years senior to himself. Maturity beyond his 
years was one of his noticeable characteristics 
from infancy to manhood. Until he was thirty 
years old those who met him for the first time 
took him to be several years older than he was, 
and they were not freed from the delusion by 
conversation with him, for his mental powers 
were in accord with his physical development. 

The district school which Elisha first at- 
tended was more than-two miles from his home, 
over roads poorly broken out when the winter's 
snows were deep, and with little shade in sum- 
mer. "When older he studied for a while at the 
Ipswich High School. He was in high esteem 
with Mr. Issacher Le Favour, the master, who 
on more than one occasion used Elisha as a 
model and examplar to stimulate the dull and 
the lazy. One of his schoolmates, who was 
neither dull nor lazy, but quite the reverse, 
shortly before his death contributed the f oUow- 

3 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

ing reminiscences, which are given in his own 
words ; — 

The late Elisha P. Dodge and myself were boys 
together, born in the same parish, in the same year, and 
attended the same district school together. In his early 
years I knew him intimately. He was a scholar without 
trying to be. He needed to make but little effort to learn. 
Often by once reading history he led his class. In mathe- 
matics he was easily at the top. He gave more time to 
the study of Latin and Greek than anything I ever knew 
him to touch. Such studies as grammar, geography, etc., 
he seemed to skip, and was found in higher grades of 
study while other boys of his own age were plodding 
along the common paths of school life. He was particu- 
larly good in declamation before the school, and took a 
prominent part in the " Young People's Debating," being 
one of its principal founders. His favorite word was " pre- 
pared," and he went to the schoolroom prepared to answer 
the master's questions, but how he learned his lessons I 
never knew, for he spent less time in study than any other 
boy of my acquaintance, but for all that he usually led 
his class. He was a favorite with his teachers, some of 
whom he could teach. He had a good deal of fun in his 
make-up, and found more time for it, both in and out of 
school, than the other boys. He was a leader among the 
boys in sports, in thought, etc., as later he became a leader 
among men. When, at the age of sixteen, we attended 
the Ipswich High School together, he had to walk three 
miles and I six, each carrying on his arm a little box, 
containing food which was to last three days. We walked 

4 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

from our homes to our room on the mornings of Mondays 
and Thursdays, returning at noon on Wednesdays and 
Saturdays. It was a little harder than most boys have to 
do nowadays, for we worked on the farm during the 
afternoons, after our walk home, in the summer and fall 
seasons. He was the best scholar in the High School. 
Elisha was busy as a boy, was seldom or never idle, and 
never despondent. He cared little for sentiment, but was 
never lacking in good cheer or courage. He was demo- 
cratic, but did not fawn. What he was as a boy gave 
promise of what he became as a man. We were also con- 
stant attendants of the same church, — and to attend 
church in that parish at that time was considered quite as 
important as to attend school. Even in his boyhood he 
was inclined to question the old theology. Many prayer 
meetings were held in those days, in which young people 
for the most part became interested, but I do not remem- 
ber that he ever became at all solicitous in regard to the 
questions that appealed to many others. As a boy he was 
always ready with an argument to support his opinion, 
and was often found to argue with those much older than 
himself. Well equipped for one of his age, and fearless 
in presenting his opinions, he frequently found himself in 
many a hot battle of words, in which he usually showed 
both skill and knowledge. If he were beaten he never 
seemed to know it, and at all events never dropped the 
subject there, but continued to investigate till he found all 
that he could about it. He thought for himself, and was 
not much biased by the simple opinion of others. Facts, 
figures, and business appealed to him very early in life. 
As a boy, he not only learned facts, but was never sat- 

5 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

isfied without reasons, and boys with whom he talked had 
to be posted or they were quickly floored. In his boyhood 
he was beyond talent, — he was even a genius. . . . 

When very young he looked ahead into life to a time 
when he expected to become rich and influential. As a 
small boy he often told his mother that when he became a 
man, he would go to Asa Lord's store (Mt. Lord was the 
keeper of a general store in town), and buy her all sorts 
of good things. Ambition even then had found a home in 
his life, and it seems never to have left him. From his 
very start in life he was bent on success, and pictured in 
his mind a course of life not unlike that he afterward 
pursued. He had a wonderful will power ; no circum- 
stance discouraged and no defeat drove him from his 
purpose. He was always confident that he could do what 
he undertook. 

Fancy, sentiment, and luck with him found but little 
if any place. His aim was to force success and the attain- 
ment of his purposes by plan and its execution, and was 
always logical. His word " prepared " he never forgot ; it 
was not with him a sentiment and a motto without mean- 
ing. No boy really lived or felt it more ; 't was his con- 
tinual watchword. 

The environment in which Elisha grew up 
furnished a wholesome and inspiring initiation 
for the youngest member of the household. 
With a serious and earnest groundwork of char- 
acter the Dodge family had a saving sense of 

humor, a taste for reading and reflection, a 

6 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

kindly affection which united them as one, and 
high aims and ambitions. This latter trait was 
especially strong in Elisha, who had a great de- 
sire for a liberal education. When quite young 
he aspired to be a minister, and a little later to 
distinguish himself in public life, which led his 
family half in joke and half in earnest at one 
time to call him " the Senator." The incidents 
recalled of these days of boyhood are charac- 
teristic of the man in mature hfe under boyish 
forms of manifestation, and, though they may 
seem trivial, are yet significant of the mind and 
character of the strong and wise personage 
whom we knew and respected. 

II 

When Elisha was fourteen years old, his 
brother Nathan left Ipswich and went to Troy, 
New York, where the two oldest brothers, Moses 
and John, were established in the shoe business. 
Two years later, in 1863, when Elisha was six- 
teen years old, he also followed, his brother John 
having secured for him a place as assistant in 
the survey for the Schenectady and Catskill 
Kailroad. In this employment he remained 
about a year, and in the spring of 1864 engaged 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

in the employ of his brothers as cutter in their 
shoe factory, thus entering upon the business 
to which he was to devote, with such great 
success, the best efforts of his life. 

The brothers continued to keep in touch 
with Massachusetts. Once or twice a year one 
of them came to Lynn to buy stock for the 
retail shoe store in Troy. They also had some 
dealings with Newburyport, and John L. Dodge 
had serious thoughts at that time of removing 
to Newburyport and establishing a shoe factory. 
Moreover, Massachusetts was their native State, 
and the ties of birth and family and early re- 
collections were a constantly operating attrac- 
tion. 

Nathan D. Dodge was the traveling agent 
and salesman, and though he was very success- 
ful in this branch of the business, he had a nat- 
ural desire to strike out on a more independent 
course, and he wished to associate his brother 
Elisha with him. They talked the matter over 
and gave it a favorable consideration, finally 
fixing upon Lynn as the field of operations. 
Accordingly, on the first of January, 1866, they 
began work in that city. It was in a small way. 

EHsha had saved $100 and Nathan $2000, and 

8 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

$2100 was not a large capital on which to es- 
tablish a shoe manufactory. But they went at 
it bravely, in the single hired room which suf- 
ficed for the beginning of the new business. 
Elisha, who was now nineteen years old, at- 
tended to the manufacturing and Nathan to 
the selling. 

There was a very serious, obstacle to the suc- 
cess of the enterprise in Lynn. The banks of 
that city declined to give credit to the young 
firm, and without bank accommodation they 
could not keep on with the business. 

Their entire sales, at first, were to their bro- 
thers Moses and John, who had been buying 
of manufacturers in Newburyport and whose 
notes the banks there were in the habit of dis- 
counting. Nathan and Elisha were obliged to 
bring the paper for discount to the same banks. 
A few months after they began operations, Mr. 
Charles H. Cof&n, president of the First National 
Bank, informed them that if they wished fur- 
ther accommodation the directors would require 
them to move their business to Newburyport. 
There was nothing for it but to comply with 
this requirement, and consequently they re- 
moved to Newburyport in the summer of 1866. 

9 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

On September 1, N. D. Dodge went into part- 
nership with John H. Balch and established 
the business in the rooms over the First Na- 
tional Bank, Elisha working on salary as a 
cutter. He was remarkably quick and expert, 
and it is told of him at this time that in 
three hours he cut sixty pairs of balmorals. 
He also did a large share of the book-keeping 
of the firm, Nathan attending to the selling. 
Mr. Coffin was very friendly to them, and the 
bank extended to them all the accommodation 
they required. 

This arrangement continued about a year, or 
until the latter part of 1867, when Mr. Balch 
wished to retire and the firm consequently sold 
out, the purchasers being E. P. Dodge and 
Newell Danforth of Georgetown. Elisha Dodge 
was under age at the time he entered upon 
this partnership ; and apprehensive that his fa- 
ther might be responsible for his debts, and 
unwilling to impose such a burden upon him, 
he consulted counsel as to the law in the case. 
Although he was but twenty years old the law- 
yer consulted took his client to be the father in 
the case proposed, and instructed Elisha as to 
his responsibility for his son's debts. In fact 

10 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



he gave the impression of a man in early middle 
life rather than of a youth who had not yet ar- 
rived at the legal age of freedom from parental 
authority. The cHent did not enlighten his 
counsel as to the mistake. He had got the in- 
formation he wanted, and that was enough. 

Dodge & Danf orth continued in business to- 
gether for about a year, with success, in a frame 
building on Pleasant Street. Mr. Danforth 
then retired from the firm. For the succeeding 
four years, terminating July 1, 1872, John H. 
Balch was associated with Mr. Dodge ; and 
while there were seasons of discouragement, 
the business was on the whole very prosperous. 
Mr. Dodge, although hardly more than a boy 
in years, was working, with the indomitable 
energy he always displayed, to win an estab- 
lished position in the world of business. His 
courage was always good and his spirits neither 
unduly elevated by a prosperous nor depressed 
by an adverse turn. He had the confidence in 
his own powers which his achievements, from 
the beginning to the end of his business career, 
so amply justified. 

The partnership with Mr. Balch was dissolved 

July 1, 1872, and for the next few years the 

11 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

business was carried on under the name of 
E. P. Dodge, with Wilham H. Swasey as special 
partner. This was a more important move than 
Mr. Dodge had as yet made, and toward Mr. 
Swasey he always expressed a grateful sense of 
obligation for the courage which he manifested 
and the confidence he placed in the abihty and 
integrity of the managing partner. This was 
shown in 1873, the next year after the special 
partnership was formed, when the first section 
of the present brick factory on Pleasant Street 
was constructed. The erection of this building 
was a costly undertaking, which would have 
been impracticable with such resources as Mr. 
Dodge possessed, but Mr. Swasey had confi- 
dence in his partner, and his fortune and credit 
were pledged to the undertaking. From that 
time the great success of the estabHshment was 
assured. 

In forming an estimate of Mr. Dodge's per- 
sonality, the fact is noteworthy that he won 
the confidence of such conservative persons as 
the moneyed men of Newburyport, from his 
first entry among them, and that this confidence 
continued and increased from the first to the 
last. His personality gave the strongest impres- 

12 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

sion of integrity and ability. All recognized 
him as a strong and honest man. 

In 1875 Edwin Sherrill and Henry B. Little 
were taken into the firm, and the business con- 
tinued under the name of E. P. Dodge & Sher- 
rill. In 1877 Mr. Swasey and Mr. Sherrill 
withdrew from the partnership, and the firm 
name was changed to E. P. Dodge & Co. 

At the age of thirty, Mr. Dodge was now at 
the head of a large and successful manufactur- 
ing business, and was one of the solid and re- 
spected citizens of Newburyport. He had won 
his place by virtue of his own talents, combined 
with the hardest kind of work, work so labori- 
ous, indeed, as to have undermined his strong 
constitution and prepared the way for the in- 
sidious disease which later took so much from 
the enjoyment of life which should have been 
his. 

In 1875 and in 1880 two more sections were 
added to the factory, thus bringing it to its 
present size, and in 1881 the building on Prince 
Place, now occupied by the Newburyport Shoe 
Company, was built by Mr. Dodge. In 1888 the 
business was incorporated as the E. P. Dodge 
Manufacturing Company, Mr. Dodge being pre- 

13 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

sident of the corporation and its principal owner, 
and remaining at its head until his death. In 
1892 the Newburyport Shoe Company was set 
off from the main corporation, Mr. Dodge being 
president of that company also and owner of a 
large majority of the stock ; and a few years 
later he established the N. D. Dodge & Bliss 
Company, in which he likewise owned the con- 
trolling interest. 

Ill 

Soon after establishing himself in Newbury- 
port, Mr. Dodge made the acquaintance of Miss 
Katharine S. Gray, daughter of the late Mr. 
John Gray. On September 16, 1869, they were 
married, the ceremony being performed by Eev. 
Joseph May, at that time pastor of the First 
Religious Society in Newburyport. They lived 
at first in the brick house on High Street at the 
corner of Park Street, where in 1872 their eld- 
est son, Robert Gray, was born. Soon after his 
birth they occupied for a short time the house 
on the corner of High and Olive streets, and 
then Mr. Dodge bought and removed to the 
residence No. 104 High Street, where their sec- 
ond son, Edwin Sherrill, was born, in 1874, and 

14 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

their third and youngest child, Lawrence Paine, 
in 1885. In 1885-86 Mr. Dodge built the house 
on the ridge of High Street, where the family 
has since resided. 

Mr. Dodge was very happy in his family re- 
lations, and was one of the most generous and 
liberal of parents. He enjoyed his home. There 
he spent much time, and found or made oppor- 
tunity for extensive reading. It was a matter 
of wonder to his friends how a man so busy, 
and so apparently engrossed in affairs public 
and private, could have found time to acquire 
so full and so well rounded a store of knowledge 
as his conversation always evidenced. The man 
of affairs is ordinarily not a man of reflection 
or of literary acquirement, but Mr. Dodge was 
remarkable in this direction, and scarcely less 
so than he was in executive ability and sound 
business sense. His opinions upon general topics 
always commanded respect, and indicated read- 
ing and reflection which could hardly be looked 
for in one apparently so absorbed in the ac- 
tivities of life. But from a boy he had been a 
reader, and until the latter part of his life his 
reading was almost entirely of a solid and in- 
forming character. 

15 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

During the seventies, when still a very young 
man, he was forging his way rapidly to a place 
in the world and was working with tremendous 
energy to build up his large business. Few 
young men would have found time, under such 
circumstances, for study or mental culture. Yet 
Mr. Dodge, young as he was and filled as he 
must have been vrith the cares and worries of 
business, was at the same time a student of lit- 
erature and science. His tastes at this period ran 
particularly to economic subjects, and the dates 
inscribed in many of the volumes in his library 
show that the science of finance and the money 
question were of especial interest to him. He 
cared little for poetry, and novels he read but 
Httle until a later period of his life. 

The time for his extensive reading was at his 
home in the evening, after the business of the 
day was over, and it was often prolonged far 
into the night after the rest of the family were 
in bed and asleep. 

He had the rare and happy faculty of attend- 
ing to one thing at a time. When the matter 
in hand was business, that was exclusive of 
everything else ; when it was study, the cares 
of the day were shut out and dropped as com- 

16 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

pletely as if they had never existed, and he 
became a student as eager and thoughtful as 
any one who devotes his Hfe to study. The re- 
sult was that Mr. Dodge was a force which 
had to be recognized and reckoned with in 
literary gatherings to as great a degree as in 
the company of business men in which he 
mingled. 

He took an active part in literary societies 
very early after his coming to Newburyport. 
The Lyceum, which had been so popular in New 
England, and which had been highly success- 
ful in Newburyport, flourishing beyond what is 
easily conceivable at the present day, was near- 
ing its sudden collapse at that time. During its 
later years Mr. Dodge was manager. But the 
institution had become obsolete ; other interests 
had superseded it, and neither his management, 
nor the eloquence of Wendell Phillips, the 
charm of Emerson, the wit of Dr. Holmes, or 
the fascinating personality of George W. Curtis 
could prolong its life beyond the appointed 
time. 

In 1872 a literary society of men and women 
was formed, with rather a large membership. It 
was called the Shakespeare Club, and the exer- 

17 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

cises consisted of the presentation by some 
member of the club of a critical examination, 
either original or selected, of some play of 
Shakespeare, and the reading of the same or 
some other, — the characters having been as- 
signed to different members at the previous 
meeting. Mr. Dodge was a very early member 
of this club, if not one of the first. Here 
he showed a very considerable dramatic talent, 
and revealed for the first time his powers as 
an actor, which afterwards won commendation 
so often at amateur theatricals. On two occa- 
sions at several years' interval he took the 
leading part at Dickens parties, at which various 
characters of the novehst were represented. 
He had an extraordinary gift for such revels, 
and it seemed all the more remarkable in one 
whose dignity in serious matters nearly ap- 
proached severity. 

Another organization, of which Mr. Dodge 
was an original member, was the Saturday Night 
Club, formed December 17, 1881, and composed 
of some of the brightest and most progressive 
men of the town. Its professed object was " the 
study of social science and kindred subjects." 

It was a successor of " The Sodality," of which 

18 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

Mr. Dodge had been a member, as had also a 
majority of the Saturday Night Club, and 
which Hammond, the revivalist, during his 
work in Newburyport had stigmatized as " The 
Infidel Club." 

It will be of interest, as showing Mr. Dodge's 
position at this time on the subject of labor 
unions, to give from the records what he said 
during the discussion, at a meeting of the club on 
February 23, 1884. The subject for discussion 
was " Arbitration and Conciliation in the Labor 
Question." Mr. Dodge said that he believed in 
labor unions ; that he never knew one of their 
demands to be without some justice. When 
given time the workmen see injustice and agree 
to reason. A board of arbitration, he felt, 
could show them how to avoid unreasonable 
and evil demands, and how to get the best re- 
sult from organization. At this time he had 
experienced some strikes in his own factory 
from not wholly reasonable demands on the 
part of the strikers, but his was not a mind to 
form its opinions from the consideration of 
only one side of a question. 

The Tuesday Evening Club was, according 
to its constitution, an association " for the pur- 

19 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

pose of promoting sociability, and for mutual 
amusement and instruction/' and was more of 
a literary club than the other, as an original 
essay was read by one of the members at nearly 
every meeting. Of this club Mr. Dodge became 
a member at the meeting in January, 1884. 
He did not venture to offer an original paper 
before the club until three years after, on Feb- 
ruary 1, 1887. The fact was that, with all his 
confidence in his own powers in the conduct of 
affairs, Mr. Dodge was modest to the verge of 
timidity on ground where he was not entirely 
sure, and at that time literary composition was 
such ground to him. 

This quahty was illustrated on the occasion 
of the presentation by Mr. Dodge of his first 
original paper before the Tuesday Evening 
Club. He seemed really to consider it as a poor 
performance, unworthy the consideration of 
such a society, and this was evidently genuine 
feeling, and not mock modesty. In fact, the 
paper was strong in argument, perfect in ar- 
rangement, and expressed in felicitous language. 
The subject was " Protection and Free Trade." 
And though the author was a protectionist, 
while several of the members of the club were 

20 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

free-traders by convictioiij and a majority were 
of the milder type which poses as "tariff re- 
formers/' yet it is recorded that " the literary 
skill and abiHty manifested by the essayist in 
the presentation of his views was conceded by 
the opponents as well as by the advocates of 
the protective theory." Mr. James Parton, an 
ultra free-trader, who advocated the abolition 
of all custom houses and duties on imported 
goods, was especially emphatic in praise of the 
paper. He said that Mr. Dodge's apology for a 
first attempt at public presentation of literary 
work was entirely unnecessary, since the paper 
which he had read would be creditable to a 
veteran writer of reputation. 

From this time until the Tuesday Evening 
Club and the Saturday Night Club were merged 
in the Fortnightly Club, November 5, 1895, 
and in the latter club, of which Mr. Dodge re- 
mained a member until his death, he contrib- 
uted his share of original essays, without appar- 
ent dif&dence. The subjects which he handled 
were many and diverse, but political and econo- 
mic themes were his favorites. 

The number of essays and written addresses 
which were found among his papers after his 

21 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

death indicates a range of talents and breadth 
of mind that is rare indeed among busy men 
of the commercial world. His papers were uni- 
formly well prepared^ strong in thought, lucid 
in expression, and with a distinction of style 
that interested the hearers. There was no doz- 
ing when Mr. Dodge offered a paper.^ 

It will be of interest here to give some ex- 

1 The subjects upon which Mr. Dodge wrote essays for one 
or the other of the literary clubs to which he belonged, in- 
cluded, among others, the following : " Protection and Free 
Trade," "The Negro in America," "What shall we do with 
the Anarchist?" "Bimetallism," "The Labor Question," 
" Abraham Lincoln." 

He delivered a great many public addresses, among them 
being an address on " Liberal Christianity," before a gathering 
of Unitarians at The Weirs, July 31, 1890 ; on " Poverty : its 
Causes and Cure," at the Unitarian church, March 8, 1891 ; on 
" The Essentials to Business Success," before the Newburyport 
Young Men's Christian Association, February 19, 1892 ; the 
annual address before the Essex Agricultural Society at Law- 
rence, September 28, 1892 ; on " Associations of Business 
Men, and the Methods by which they can do most to promote 
the Welfare of New England," before the State Board of 
Trade, January 30, 1895 ; an address on " Municipal Govern- 
ment," before the Boot and Shoe Club of Boston, and another 
on the same subject before the Unitarian Club of Newbury- 
port, December 6, 1895. 

He was called upon to preside or speak at numberless pub- 
lic meetings, and was ever ready to assist with his presence 
and voice any cause in which he believed. 

22 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

tracts, chosen almost at random, as specimens 
not merely of the vigorous quality of his style, 
but also of the breadth and sanity of his views. 
At a meeting of the Fortnightly Club in Janu- 
ary, 1898, he took as his subject " The Labor 
Question." He began with the statement that 
this is the question which more than any other 
troubles this generation. 

There always have been, and always will be, men of 
such talents, and perhaps good fortune, that they seem 
destined to be leaders and masters of other men ; and 
there always have been and always will be a much larger 
number whose capacity, and perhaps ill fortune, make it 
inevitable that they shall be followers and servants of 
those more Hberally endowed with what we sometimes call 
the higher faculties. The spirit of antagonism that exists 
between these two orders of men is natural and unavoida- 
ble, and will probably always remain. 

After giving a sketch of the history of the 
question from the earliest times, when the rela- 
tion of the employer to the employed was that 
of brute force, down through the mediaeval 
guilds of merchants and traders, formed for the 
advantage of the masters rather than the men, 
to the modern labor unions of the nineteenth 
century, the writer discussed the question in the 
light of the Darwinian law of evolution, the 

23 



^ 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

struggle for existence and the survival of the 
fittest, and closed as follows : — 

In order that the principles involved in such a contest 
may be clearly defined, we freely admit that there are 
certain facts connected with labor disturbances which are 
not open to dispute. 

The right of the workman to work for such pay as 
the employer will give, or to refuse it, cannot be denied, 
whether the employee is a member of a labor union or 
not. The right of laborers to form unions must be ad- 
mitted, and they may whenever they deem best refuse to 
work for the wages they have been receiving and demand 
an advance, and if their demands are not granted they 
may properly leave their work in a body. 

Up to this point there can be no question that they 
act fully within their rights, whatever may be said as to 
their discretion. But whenever men strike and leave 
their work they clearly have no right to prevent other 
men from taking their places if other men desire so to 
do. Violence and intimidation for the purpose of keep- 
ing men from taking places vacated by strikers is not only 
illegal, it is wholly unjustifiable. If appeals to reason 
made in a legitimate and dispassionate manner will not 
convince the unemployed that they should not take the 
places left vacant, then they must be allowed to take them. 
The law should protect them in so doing, as it should pro- 
tect every citizen in the exercise of all his personal rights. 
Nothing will do so much to prevent labor troubles as a 
recognition on the part of the people of the truth of this 
statement. Nothing in connection with the labor question 

24 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

will do more than this to promote the general welfare, 
for it is a direct and unembarrassed submission of the 
question to the decision of competition, and to that tribu- 
nal it must eventually come. 

Striking workmen almost invariably attempt, by un- 
justifiable means, to keep other men out of their places. 
Take this disposition and power from them, and the hun- 
dreds of iU-advised strikes that have been thoughtlessly 
entered upon, and have ended in disaster, would never 
have occurred. 

That there might be justifiable strikes we are not dis- 
posed to deny. If natural laws are allowed free action 
they wiU be few, and they will usually be successful when 
they occur. No wise employer will permit one to occur 
unless it is morally certain that he cannot submit, and a 
workman would long hesitate to leave his place when he 
knew it could be taken peaceably by any one desiring to 
do so. 

There is much apparent injustice, and there is some 
real injustice in the world. Whenever it exists as the 
result of human action it is bitterly resented by aU right- 
minded men, and in the end they control public opinion, 
that most potent force in moulding the action of men. 

The establishment of boards of arbitration to investi- 
gate labor disturbances is a movement in the right direc- 
tion. Where injustice is attempted, although such boards 
cannot of themselves prevent it, they can make the fact 
generally known, and it will be an extremely doubtful 
case which cannot be justly determined by the force of 
public opinion. 

25 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

General laws regulating the hours of labor and pre- 
scribing the conditions under which men, women, and chil- 
dren may work do not limit free competition, for all are 
alike subject to such laws. Neither does a fair protec- 
tive tariff necessarily limit competition in a way to make 
it antagonistic to the public interest. A protective tariff 
is defensible only when it permits and secures free com- 
petition within the limits of the nation which enacts it. 
There are industries in our country that have grown up 
under protection that have developed such a strength 
that they can hold their own against the world. They 
have done this by virtue of the fact that they have been 
subject to free individual competition within their own 
sphere. 

In America there is practically an equal opportunity 
for all, but the chimera of industrial cooperation with an 
equal division of the fruits of labor will never be realized 
here or elsewhere. 

We have industrial cooperation now, but under it, in 
harmony with the demands of justice, the individual is 
paid according to the value of his service, while the labor 
agitator proposes that all shall be paid alike, thereby 
placing the incompetent and ignorant on a level with the 
skillful and intelligent. Such a scheme is as impracticable 
as it would be injurious to the welfare of society. It 
would be a " reform against nature," for nature knows 
no exact equality. 

It is an axiom that the highest paid labor is the 
cheapest. It returns most in proportion to its cost. The 
highest paid labor of industrial society is the labor of its 



26 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

employers, and it is its cheapest labor. The community 
gets most from them, and none know better than they 
that inexorable competition limits their reward. We deal 
with the general law in respect to employers. There are 
exceptions, of course, but they only illustrate the truth that 
law works no more perfectly in the higher than in the 
lower fields of activity. 

In conclusion I repeat, the industrial problem will 
solve itself when every man is free to go when and where 
untrammeled competition, the inevitable law that ulti- 
mately controls all living things, shall offer him the oppor- 
tunity for the exercise of his natural powers. Evolution 
will permit it to be solved in no other way. 

At a meeting of the club on January 30, 
1900, Mr. Dodge read a paper on Abraham 
Lincoln. After a judicious and interesting sum- 
mary of the events of Lincoln's life and a 
sketch of his character, the writer brought the 
paper to a close as follows : — 

In conclusion I would draw a practical and I think a timely 
lesson from the life of Abraham Lincoln. Speaking to 
soldiers he once said, " This government must be preserved. 
To the humblest and poorest amongst us are held out the 
highest privileges and positions. The present moment 
finds me at the White House, yet there is as good a chance 
for your children as for my father's." His great work was 
not so much in saving the Union as in preserving unin- 
jured free republican institutions. Born and reared under 



27 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

popular government, we forget what it cost, and do not ap- 
preciate its value. Under no government but ours is such 
an opportunity offered to the children of men to work out 
their own salvation. Under no government but ours is it 
possible for a life begun like Lincoln's to end like his. 
Shall we, unmoved by his precept and example, permit 
our great privileges to be limited or destroyed ? Shall we 
presume that no longer is eternal vigilance necessary to 
the preservation of liberty ? Disease attacks insidiously, 
and there is much in our social and political life which 
we applaud or excuse, but which we should rather regard 
as a cause for serious anxiety. The trades' union that 
by force prevents a youth from practicing the craft he 
chooses, commits a crime against individual liberty. The 
combination of wealth that by force destroys its competi- 
tors commits a more brutal crime against human freedom. 
A fine sense of justice preeminently distinguished the 
great President. Can we doubt that he would now say 
with us. What does it signify if by private monopolies 
the public may for a time be better served while justice is 
denied to one human being ? We pay too great a price 
when we sacrifice justice for any such material gain. The 
laws of nature are inexorable, but it has been America's 
proud boast that here, under the laws of men, there should 
be equal rights and equal opportunity. To-day soulless 
corporate greed, political corruption, and arrogant impe- 
rialism threaten our democracy. If they are permitted to 
have their way, it needs no gift of prophecy to foretell the 
consequences. The people have thrown off the rule of ab- 
solute kings ; they will peaceably submit to no new form of 
tyranny. 

28 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

Mr. Dodge excelled as an orator, and partic- 
ularly as a presiding officer at public meetings. 
He was quick and ready, bright and witty, and 
in the more formal duty of a presiding officer, 
when called to address the assembly on his own 
account, he was impressive and stimulating. 
No report could do justice to his felicitous 
manner of introducing speakers on such occa- 
sions. 

The following address, dehvered as presid- 
ing officer at the services in memory of Colonel 
Eben F. Stone, at the meeting-house of the First 
Religious Society of Newburyport, on April 21, 
1895, will illustrate the dignity and force of 
Mr. Dodge's addresses on serious occasions : — 

In the brief remarks I have to make it seems to me 
peculiarly fitting that I should address you, men and 
women, as fellow-citizens, for we are here to honor the 
memory of a man whose long life among us was a striking 
illustration of those high qualities of character that are 
most honorable in American citizenship. 

The civic virtues, which have been glorified in all ages, 
were in the life of Eben Francis Stone a vital and a po- 
tent force. 

He never lightly esteemed his duty to his fellow-men, 
nor did he carelessly discharge it, and for this he richly 
deserves our most grateful remembrance. A son of New- 

29 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

buryport, he was ever jealous of her good name, and, 
whether serving her in public office or in his private sta- 
tion, he honored the city of his birth. A citizen of Mas- 
sachusetts, he was early in life a trusted and influential 
councilor in her halls of legislation, and by his exalted con- 
ception of the obligations of such a public trust he mate- 
rially augmented the high reputation of her public men. 

This sense of responsibility did not limit his public ser- 
vice to that which may be rendered in the security of 
national peace. When called to answer the highest test 
of loyalty to his country, uttering sentiments of the lof- 
tiest patriotism, he bravely answered the summons, and 
offered his life on the field of battle, that the integrity of 
this great Union might be preserved. 

When war had ended in victory, and national service 
demanded the talents of the statesman instead of the 
heroism of the soldier, he again, in the closing years of 
his active life, gave ample evidence of the high and un- 
selfish character of his statesmanship in the Congress of 
the United States. 

I would not exaggerate the merits of Colonel Stone. 
I remember too well the fervor of his injunction, so char- 
acteristic of his unswerving honesty, "Say nothing but 
truth of the dead." 

Men of greater ability and of wider opportunity have 
rendered service in importance greatly superior to his, 
but we may unhesitatingly affirm that in its moral quality 
his service was inferior to none. He had limitations, but 
for the most part they were far beyond the reach of our 
vision. 

Few could measure the depth of his sincerity of purpose, 
30 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

his quick sense of justice, his sound and exceptionally im- 
partial judgment, his fine perception of the higher inter- 
ests of life, or the dauntless courage with which he could 
face any danger in defense of what he believed to be 
right. 

With all these great qualities, he had also a wealth of 
wisdom, a profound interest in the great questions of the 
day, a rare discrimination in his estimate of noted men, 
and a fund of historic reminiscence, which made personal 
intercourse with him a most valuable and a most de- 
lightful experience. 

Although he lived for more than threescore and ten 
years, in a sense he never grew old. 

No one ever realized more fully than he that progress 
to better things is the law of social development. 

With a mind ever open to the reception of new thought 
and to a just appreciation of new conditions, as fullness 
of years came upon him he retained the buoyant optimism 
of early manhood. 

He never lost his faith in republican institutions, nor 
his belief in the final triumph of the moral sense of the 
American people. In his serene confidence that through 
present wrong we are ever moving towards the eternal 
right, he never faltered. 

They who knew him in the relation of personal friend- 
ship knew all these things to be true, and felt how much 
more of the honor and affection of his fellow-men he 
deserved than he received, great as was that which was 
bestowed upon him. 

As we would now do justice to his memory, may we be 
inspired to emulate his virtues ! 

31 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 
IV 

In considering the social and literary side of 
Mr. Dodge's life, we have gone far ahead of the 
story of his career as a man of affairs of im- 
meuse energy and activity ; of the building up 
of a great business which prospered from the 
beginning and brought him a large fortune ; 
of his public spirit and remarkable way of find- 
ing time for engaging in public affairs and im- 
pressing his strong personality upon these as 
effectively as do many able men who devote 
themselves entirely to pubHc life. Few men of 
such versatility of powers excel. In spite of the 
proverb of the jack of all trades who is master 
of none, which has the sanction of human ex- 
perience, Mr. Dodge had great abihty in the 
management of private business, he was strong 
and a leader in public affairs, and in general 
culture he ranked weU with men who devote 
themselves to making the most of their mental 
powers. 

He had the faculty from early youth of in- 
spiring in the minds of those with whom he 
came in contact great confidence in his ability 

as well as in his character. He was very young 

32 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

at the time of the partnership with Mr. John H, 
Balch, but a story is told which illustrates the 
latter's confidence in him even then. On one 
occasion during that partnership, Mr. Edward 
S. Moseley, president of the Mechanics National 
Bank, in the course of a conversation at the 
bank with Mr. Balch, said to the latter, " Who 
is this E. P. Dodge of whom you speak ? " Mr. 
Balch promptly replied, " He is the next presi- 
dent of this bank ! " It was a prophetic utter- 
ance, for although Mr. Moseley continued to 
be the president for many years thereafter, he 
was succeeded in 1900 by Mr. Dodge, who had 
long been one of the directors, and who as pre- 
sident brought about the consolidation with the 
Ocean Bank. 

Another anecdote of the partnership with 
Mr. Balch contains also an element of the pro- 
phetic, and in addition illustrates Mr. Dodge's 
ambition and confidence in his own powers. 
One day the partners were passing across Brown 
Square when the younger remarked, " There, 
Mr. Balch, I want to own a factory large enough 
to cover this square, and money enough to run 
it." That was the wish of a young man who 

had but recently reached his majority. Before 

33 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

he had gained the threshold of middle age that 
wish was fulfilled. The factories he built cov- 
ered as large an area as that of Brown Square, 
and there was ample capital with which to run 
them. 

A large factor in the early success of the 
business was the prompt adoption of the McKay 
stitching machine, while other shoe manufac- 
turers were considering whether it would pay. 

A record of the sales from the time of the 
later partnership will give a notion of the 
extent and growth of the business. 



ANNUAL SALES. 



Year end 



ng July 1, 1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 
1877 
1878 
1879 
1880 
1881 
1882 
1883 
1884 
1885 
1886 
34 



$197,910.90 
211,074.54 
204,577.39 
251,013.54 
373,883.94 
360,740.70 
370,156.56 
448,398.95 
529,238.55 
713,989.51 
887,583.54 
963,598.02 
964,689.30 

1,018,606.47 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



Year end 


ing July 1, 1887 . . 


1,067,038.94 






* 1888 . . 


1,022,292.40 






* 1889 . . 


871,455.86 






^ 1890 . . 


1,058,943.13 






' 1891 . . 


1,353,599.11 






' 1892 . . 


1,440,250.35 






' 1893 . . 


986,491.56 






' 1894 . . 


; 908,554.71 






'^ 1895 . . 


796,963.98 






« 1896 . . 


. 1,380,402.47 






' 1897 . . 


. 1,055,047.94 






" 1898 . . 


. 1,181,235.99 






'' 1899 . . 


. 1,154,454.17 






" 1900 . . 


. 1,273,148.48 






'« 1901 . . 


916,219.38 






'' 1902 . . 


. 1,010,969.57 



During the year ending July 1, 1889, there 
were changes which for the time reduced the 
amount of sales, and again in the year ending 
July 1, 1892, the Newburyport Shoe Company 
was set off from the main company, and took 
with it the finer work. This was, however, no 
reduction of Mr. Dodge's business, for he was 
as much interested in this company as in the 
original one. The total value of his manufac- 
ture, as indicated by the sales, was over $30,- 
000,000, and this in a business built up from 
nothing by his own energy and business capacity. 

35 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

During all this time there were very few and 
trifling labor troubles. In the early days after 
the brick factory on Pleasant Street was built, 
there was a strike of the lasters on account of 
the discharge of a couple of men, but this was 
quickly settled, and did not interfere with the 
work of the factory seriously nor interrupt it 
beyond a day. More recently there was a strike 
of the cutters for a similar cause and with a 
similar result. There were no strikes by reason 
of dissatisfaction with the wages. This was the 
more remarkable from the fact that Mr. Dodge 
had the reputation with many persons, including 
some of his own workmen, of being a hard and 
exacting employer, who considered only his own 
welfare, and who cared nothing for the interests 
of those who worked for him. It was a mis- 
taken estimate, and was not shared by the more 
acute and discerning of the employees. Yet 
there must have been something in Mr. Dodge's 
personality which made such an impression 
upon the minds of many men. The fact is that 
in this regard, as in many others, he was of a 
complex character, and might seem to different 
observers, or to the same observer at different 
times and under different circumstances, as two 

36 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

men of diverse natures. Mr. Dodge was a kindly 
man, ready to help those who were striving to 
better their condition. There were many in 
business in Newburyport who owed a good deal 
of their success to his advice and aid, and there 
were many in his employ whom he helped by his 
recommendation to wider and more profitable 
fields of employment. On the other hand, he 
was a just man, as strict and stern in his de- 
mands upon others as he was in his own con- 
duct, and though very sensitive to criticism 
from his fellow-men, he was not to be deceived 
by flattery, nor would he try to conciliate good 
will. Moreover he was always master in his own 
sphere and asserted himself as such, and was 
intolerant of assumption which encroached upon 
his authority, as he was also with inefficiency or 
dishonesty. The fact that in all the years of 
his business career there were no serious labor 
troubles in his factory is convincing evidence 
that the leaders among his workmen were satis- 
fied that they were justly and fairly treated. 
Many of these expressed their appreciation of 
Mr. Dodge's fairness and good will whenever 
they spoke of him. 

He was a good judge of men and could very 

37 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

accurately gauge their capacity. He selected fit 
men for the work he assigned to them in his 
own business, and to this in a large degree was 
due his uniform success. But that conscientious 
sense of justice which has been noted in his 
character would not allow him, out of friend- 
ship or even gratitude, to employ any man in a 
position for which he considered him unfit, or 
less fit than another man who had weaker per- 
sonal hold upon him. It is an admirable qual- 
ity, but it does not add to one's popularity in a 
world where the fit are few and the incompetent 
many. With his employees and with the mass 
of men in the community, Mr. Dodge rather 
commanded respect for his qualities of mind 
and character than won popularity. And yet, 
underneath the crust of strenuous virtues there 
was a very kindly and lovable nature which his 
intimates felt and appreciated. 

Mr. Dodge was elected a member of the In- 
stitution for Savings in Newburyport and its 
Vicinity in the early part of 1874. Three years 
later, in 1877, he was elected to the Board of 
Trustees, and at the time of his death was a 
member of the Investment Committee and the 

senior member of the trustees in term of ser- 

38 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

vice. His judgment was held in the highest 
respect by his associates, as the survivors unani- 
mously testify. 

The year 1877, in which Mr. Dodge com- 
pleted the thirtieth year of his life, saw the be- 
ginning of his connection with other important 
institutions. On October 29 he was chosen a 
director of the Mechanics National Bank, to 
succeed Captain Joshua Hale. On November 5 
he was elected one of the trustees of the Putnam 
Free School, and remained on that board dur- 
ing the rest of his life, taking much interest in 
its affairs, as he always did in education, whether 
as a member of the school committee studying 
the interests of the pubHc schools, or as a parent 
supervising the school and college training of 
his sons. 

Later Mr. Dodge became a director in other 
business corporations, among them the Newbury- 
port Gas and Electric Company and the Secu- 
rity Safe Deposit and Trust Company of Lynn. 
He was also at one time president of the New 
England Magazine Company. 

The Anna Jaques Hospital was incorporated 
March 20, 1884, with nine incorporators, of 
whom Mr. Dodge was one. He was chosen 

39 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

treasurer January 1, 1899, and performed the 
duties of that office during the rest of his life. 
As treasurer he was ex officio a member of the 
executive committee of the hospital. To his de- 
voted labors and ability, as much as to the gen- 
erous efforts of the corps of medical and stirgical 
experts who contributed their professional ser- 
vices, was due the successful operation of the 
hospital. Their services and his were rendered 
without fee or other reward than the conscious- 
ness of a good work well performed. While 
they gave freely of their professional skill, he 
conducted the pecuniary affairs of the hospital 
with admirable economy, and by the application 
of business principles and sound good sense 
secured a remarkable efficiency in the hospital 
work. 

In 1900 Mr. William C. Todd presented the 
trustees with fifty thousand dollars with which 
to erect a new hospital building. The super- 
vision of this work naturally fell chiefly to Mr. 
Dodge. He gave his best efforts to the study of 
how best to meet the needs of the hospital, both 
as to location and as to the design of the build- 
ing. It was the work which most interested him 

during the last two years of his life. His whole 

40 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

heart was in it. " If I can only live to see the 
new hospital completed ! " was a wish he fer- 
vently expressed during the summer of 1902. 
At the time he seemed likely to Hve for several 
years, but unfortunately his wish was denied 
him, and he did not live to see the actual work of 
building even begun. The plans had been pre- 
pared under his direction, however, and the hos- 
pital thus had the benefit of his experience and 
wisdom. 

The trustees, the attendant physicians and 
surgeons, and the superintendent and head 
nurse of the hospital had and have a very high 
appreciation of the services of Mr. Dodge as 
trustee and as treasurer. While in the latter 
office he gave three afternoons in a week to 
attendance at the hospital, and whenever ad- 
vice or direction in regard to its affairs was 
sought by them at his place of business, he 
was always ready and willing to give them his 
time and attention. 

He introduced system and economy in the 
financial management of the institution. He 
saw to it that a dollar should go farther than it 
ever had before, and that there should be more 
dollars to expend. He studied the subject with 

41 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

the same enthusiasm and thoroughness with 
which he entered upon any work which came 
to his hand to do. He investigated the manage- 
ment of other hospitals, and from their finan- 
cial reports compiled and tabulated statistics 
which taught him just how much of the income 
should be devoted to each class of expenses. 
Before his death he had entered into corre- 
spondence with the treasurers of other hospitals, 
with the hope of securing a uniformity of ac- 
counting, so that each institution might easily 
profit from the experience of the others. 

Mr. Dodge's activity and efforts in this work 
might well be gone into with more detail than 
space here permits, for they were typical of the 
man, and illustrated the reasons why success 
came to him in all that he undertook. 

Another body which profited from Mr. 
Dodge's association with it was the board of 
directors of the public library. As an ex officio 
director while mayor, and as a permanent di- 
rector thereafter, his voice and vote were always 
ready to assist all measures calculated to extend 
the usefulness of the library. 

One of Mr. Dodge's most marked character- 

42 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

istics was forcefulness. His strength of intel- 
lect and character made him, from his youth, 
the commanding spirit in every undertaking in 
which he shared, and in every circle in which 
he moved. Whether as manager of his business, 
as director of a hank, as trustee of a public 
charity, or as a man among men in the social 
life of his time, he seemed to dominate every 
situation in which he found himself. It was 
because of the force and strength of his per- 
sonality. He commanded the respect of all 
men with whom he came in contact. 



Throughout his life Mr. Dodge was deeply 
interested in politics and political questions. 
He was a Republican, but of too independent 
a mind to be a servile party man. It was inev- 
itable that a man of his strong powers and 
habit of doing his own thinking on all ques- 
tions should find himself, especially in his later 
years, often in disagreement with the party 
policy. As early as 1876 we find him presid- 
ing at a rally called to support the candidacy of 
Charles P. Thompson, the Democrat, for Con- 
gress, against Dr. Loring, the Republican, whose 

43 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

career had been such as to alienate from his 
support many other Republicans besides Mr. 
Dodge. It is extremely probable that Mr. Dodge 
did not vote for Blaine in 1884. Yet he was at 
this time regarded as a sufficiently good party 
man, and in 1883 he was a most efficient chair- 
man of the RepubHcan city committee of New- 
buryport. Later he represented the district 
upon the Republican State committee, and in 
1892 he was a delegate to the National Con- 
vention of his party at MinneapoHs, at which 
Harrison was nominated for the presidency. It 
was the common impression before General 
Cogswell's death that Mr. Dodge would succeed 
him in Congress, and had not failing health 
rendered it out of the question, it is beHeved by 
good judges that, if he had chosen, he could 
have had the nomination and election. Clearly 
the district would have honored itself by such 
a choice, for it possessed no abler man or more 
respected citizen. 

In his later years Mr. Dodge's allegiance to 
the Republican party became materially weak- 
ened. In what he felt to be its plutocratic and 
monopoHstic tendencies, he saw nothing but 
danger, and upon the question of imperiahsm, so 

44 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

called, he was pronounced in his opposition to 
the party teachings. 

In the affairs of his own city government, no 
less than in the broader field of national poli- 
tics, Mr. Dodge always took a deep interest. 
That it was no mere theoretical interest is shown 
by his years of active service in the city govern- 
ment. As early as 1871 he served in the com- 
mon council. The following year, when still a 
boy in years, he was a candidate for the board 
of aldermen, but was defeated at the polls by 
Mr. Joseph B. Morss, one of the leading men 
of the city. In the faU of 1875 he was chosen 
a member of the school committee. At this 
time he was twenty-eight years old. The suc- 
cess of his business had become assured, but his 
cares and responsibilities were very great for 
one of his years, and his working day was only 
too apt to last far into the night. It is an indi- 
cation of the versatility of his tastes and activ- 
ities that he should have accepted a public duty 
of this sort when the exactions of his private 
business were more than enough to absorb all 
the energies of an ordinary man. 

He served on the school committee at this 
time for three years, and again from 1885 to 

45 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

1889 inclusive. During this latter period lie 
took the leading part in the establishment of 
the training school for teachers, a work in which 
he was deeply interested and in the successful 
accomplishment of which he took a pardonable 
pride. 

In 1890 and 1891 Mr. Dodge was mayor of 
the city. As was to be expected, he conducted 
the affairs of the office in a wise, efficient, and 
business-like manner. His administration was 
especially signalized by the inauguration of sci- 
entific street building. The highways of the 
city had for years been in a wretched condition, 
and their improvement was a crying need. Mr. 
Dodge became a student of road construction, 
and was soon master of the subject. Under his 
lead a system of macadamized roads was ini- 
tiated, which his successors have carried far 
toward completion. 

In his inaugural address in 1890, Mr. Dodge 
spoke of the streets as follows : — 

Their present condition is certainly most deplorable. 
If good roads are an indication of the highest civilization, 
we should not care to be judged by what ours are at pre- 
sent. That they are in such a state may be attributed to 
several causes. Only small portions of them have been 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

properly constructed, and no repairs can make a road 
satisfactory that was originally constructed on a wrong 
principle. The frequent rains of the past year and a half, 
and lastly the laying of sewers, have combined to disor- 
ganize and demoralize what was sufficiently bad before. 
It is now necessary as a matter of economy, if for no other 
reason, that radical measures be adopted to give us streets 
that will be entirely safe, and over which we can travel 
with a reasonable degree of comfort. In High Street we 
have an avenue that might easily be made to excel any 
of equal extent in the country. It should have a roadbed 
worthy of its great natural beauty. "With the electric rail- 
road soon to be built, it will become the pleasure drive of 
the whole people. It should be put in such condition 
that all may take both pride and pleasure in it. The cost 
of transportation on our business streets is materially 
enhanced by the extra wear of both horse and vehicle, 
caused by the bad condition of the roads. They should 
be made such that business may be carried on here with 
as little expense as in any other city. Something must be 
done. The question for us to consider is. What can be done 
within the limit of our means ? Not very much in any one 
year. We can, however, commence with the right kind 
of work, do what we can, and if it is followed up by our 
successors, eventually, and in a comparatively few years, 
we shall have satisfactory results. Unquestionably the 
best road for heavy traffic which we can consider is that 
paved with granite blocks, such as Pleasant Street and 
part of Merrimac Street. The cost is too great for us 
to adopt it to any considerable extent immediately, but 
it should be continued on Merrimac, Water, and State 

47 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

streets, and I strongly advise that an appropriation be 
made for laying a limited amount this year. For the 
greater part of High Street and some of the streets run- 
ning parallel to it, we must adopt a species of the macad- 
amized road. 

He then went on to explain the macadam 
work which should be done, pointing out the 
error in one experiment that had been made, 
and closed with recommending immediate ac- 
tion. 

It will be of interest, as showing Mr. Dodge's 
opinion of the public schools, to quote what 
he had to say of them in the same address. He 
said : — 

The maintenance of our free public schools is justly 
regarded as of the highest importance. The education 
they give is essential to good citizenship, and the com- 
mingling of all classes for a common purpose promotes 
that feeling of equality and mutual confidence so essential 
under our free government. I deprecate the establishment 
of sectarian or private schools of any nature or descrip- 
tion, except for the very young or of the higher grades. 
To counteract the tendency to establish such schools, the 
public schools should be made as thorough and perfect in 
system as possible. We should direct our efforts to the 
primary and grammar departments almost exclusively. 
Truancy should be abolished. Attendance for the full year 
should be regular and prompt, as such discipline would be 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

of almost as much advantage as the knowledge acquired 
from books. If the lower grades are properly cared for, 
the higher grades can safely be left to private interests 
and munificence. I question the right of supporting high 
schools at public expense, and I am sure that no necessity 
for it exists. If the public does its full duty in connection 
with primary education, it will have done enough. It can- 
not be said to have done that duty until it sees that no 
child reaches adult years without having been thoroughly 
taught in all the primary and as much of the grammar 
school course as is possible. I hope an efficient truant 
officer wiU hereafter be steadily employed. 

Mr. Dodge's feeling, here expressed, that per- 
haps high schools should not he supported at 
the public expense, should by no means be taken 
as indicating any disbeHef on his part in the 
value of higher education. In fact, he was a 
very strong believer in its value. That his own 
school-days had necessarily ended when he was 
sixteen years old was a fact he never ceased to 
deplore, and from his early manhood he was 
resolved that his sons should have the beneJ&t 
of a college training. He Hved to see two of 
them graduate from Harvard, and the third 
almost ready to enter. They recall that from 
earliest boyhood there never was the sKghtest 
question of their being destined for college. 

49 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

After his first term as mayor Mr. Dodge was 
reelected by a very large majority, notwith- 
standing that his opponent was a highly re- 
spected citizen who had formerly been mayor 
of the city. The people realized the value of the 
service they had received during the past year, 
and meant that it should continue. Fortunate 
indeed is the city that can command talents like 
Mr. Dodge's for the work of its government. 

VI 

Mr. Dodge was brought up by his parents in 
the strict school of New England orthodoxy, 
but while still emerging from boyhood to man- 
hood he came under Unitarian influence, and 
when, in early manhood, he settled in New- 
buryport, he became a member of the First 
Religious Society. Rev. Joseph May, the pas- 
tor of that society at the time, officiated at 
the marriage of Mr. Dodge, and Rev. Samuel 
C. Beane, D. D., conducted the services at his 
funeral. 

Whatever duty Mr. Dodge undertook he per- 
formed thoroughly, and whatever society he 
thought it worth while to join he served faith- 
fully and constantly. He was one of the most 

50 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

regular attendants at the Sunday services at 
the Pleasant Street Church, and was an active 
worker in the affairs of the society. He was 
prominent in organizing the Unitarian Club 
and making it interesting so that others than 
members of the society were attracted to its 
meetings, and during several seasons he was its 
president. He was liberal in contributing to the 
pecuniary needs of the society, as he was always 
in assisting the charitable organizations of the 
city. When the Essex County Unitarian Club 
was formed, Mr. Dodge became a member and 
for some years was its president. The Essex 
Unitarian Conference also had the advantage 
of Mr. Dodge's ability to make its meetings in- 
teresting and profitable, and he was its presi- 
dent from 1890 until 1895. As a presiding 
officer he was admirable, dignified, quick of 
apprehension, prompt in decision, and witty and 
apt in recognizing those who took the floor to 
speak or to introduce business for considera- 
tion. Never was he more brilliant as a presid- 
ing officer than at the centennial celebration of 
the building of the meeting-house of the First 
Religious Society. This was held on October 31, 
1901, less than a year before his death. Al- 

51 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

though suffering from a mortal chronic disease, 
he was the brightest spirit present, and contrib- 
uted fully as much as any of the speakers on that 
occasion to make it interesting and memorable 
to every one who was present. No report could 
have done him justice, but the felicitous manner 
in which he introduced the speakers and the 
bright and appropriate side remarks which he 
interjected were a large contribution to the 
pleasure of these exercises. 

At one of the Unitarian summer outings at 
the Weirs, Mr. Dodge delivered an address on 
Liberal Christianity, which was well received 
and highly spoken of by those who heard it. 

Mr. Dodge believed in the essentials of reli- 
gion and had little faith in the theological forms 
of any sect. He held that what is true in any 
form of religion is common to all forms, and 
what is peculiar to any one is fallacy. Before 
the days of Emerson and Theodore Parker one 
who held such an attitude would have been stig- 
matized as an infidel and perhaps as an atheist. 
But Mr. Dodge was recognized as a religious 
man, having the essentials of Christianity and 
the lofty aspirations and the stern sense of duty 
which have been claimed for the Calvinists, 

52 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

whose blood and training he inherited. He had 
the virtues of that sect without its narrowness 
and intolerance. 

VII 

The strenuous life which Mr. Dodge had led, 
striving to excel in every direction, and with 
such remarkable success, was too exacting even 
for his vigorous constitution, and the last twenty 
years of his life were a literal struggle for exist- 
ence, a fight against an insidious and incurable 
disease, induced by his having overtaxed as a 
young man the extraordinary powers of his mind 
and body. The first notice he had of his dan- 
ger was in 1883, when he applied for additional 
life insurance, and was rejected on the medi- 
cal examination. The words of the examiner, 
" You have not ten years to live, sir ! " were as 
lightning from a clear sky. The first great bat- 
tle of his life, for a place in the world, he had 
already won, only to begin on the second, — 
for life itself. 

He procured the best medical advice, and 

from that time took more recreation, left more 

of his business to others whom he could trust, 

and by adhering to a strict regimen under the 

63 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

advice of his physicians, and by travel on tours 
of pleasure and observation, he managed to live 
twenty years longer. He faced the foe with a 
cheerfulness which demonstrated the strength 
of his character, and maintained an activity in 
every interest, even now, which would have been 
enough to engage all the powers of an ordinary 
man. His mind remained clear and strong and 
his courage and will firm while his physical 
health was sapped by the disease. 

During this period Mr. Dodge traveled fre- 
quently. In the summer of 1880 he had made 
his one trip to Europe. In 1885 and again in 
1894 he visited Florida, and in 1888 the Yel- 
lowstone Park. In 1897 he crossed the conti- 
nent and traveled extensively through the Paci- 
fic States. In 1899 he made a tour of Mexico, 
which interested him greatly and formed the 
subject of a very entertaining address delivered 
by him on several occasions. He made various 
shorter trips, and before he died had visited 
practically every State in the Union and various 
parts of Canada. He believed thoroughly in the 
value of travel, and encouraged his sons, from 
their early youth, to see as much of the world 

as possible, as a part of their education. 

54 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

A good deal of what has here been related of 
Mr. Dodge occurred during this period after he 
had been pronounced upon by the medical ex- 
aminer. He maintained with cheerful courage 
all the vivacity of his years of vigorous health, 
and his conversational and social charm was in- 
creased rather than diminished by the relaxation 
from business engrossment forced upon him by 
his physical condition. But his constitution was 
sadly undermined, and when an attack of pneu- 
monia came, in the latter part of September, 
1902, he had no chance against it. He remained 
about a week, apparently with little suffering, 
and on September 30 peacefully breathed his 
last. The funeral services were attended by the 
family and a few invited friends, and were con- 
ducted by Kev. Samuel C. Beane, D. D., pastor 
of the First EeHgious Society. 

Mr. Dodge was about five feet eight and a 
half inches in height, broad-shouldered, of a 
compact, strongly built figure. He had a clear 
and rather ruddy complexion, and blue eyes of 
sharp expression which saw everything and gave 
the impression of dauntless courage and irresisti- 
ble will. He walked rapidly and was prompt in 

every movement without giving the impression 

55 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

of hurry. He was good-looking rather than 
handsome, with a noble head, an intellectual 
forehead, and a general bearing that struck one 
at first meeting as that of a remarkable man, 
one of the born leaders of men. Courteous and 
gentlemanly in society, he could be hard as flint 
toward an opponent, and he had a vein of sar- 
casm that would wither one who attempted any 
disrespect toward himself or the plans he most 
cherished. His cousin, Mr. Donallan, says of 
him, "Elisha could be as rough as a black- 
smith's file, or he could be the most concilia- 
tory of men, and he knew well when and how 
to use either quality." 

Whatever faults Mr. Dodge may have had, 
there were none of which he or his friends need 
be ashamed. Just as in his lifetime his oppo- 
nents could find no weak point in his character 
to attack, no eccentricity to ridicule, so after his 
death his best friends could well say in the 
words which Mr. Dodge attributed to Colonel 
Stone, " Say nothing but truth of the dead." 
This is as he would have wished it, since his 
characteristics, whether they deserve admiration 
or disapproval, were those of a masculine, stren- 
uous nature, too ambitious and self -poised to be 

56 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

allured by soft vices, or to fall into any mean- 
ness of act or speech. If there was a certain 
severity and hardness in his character, he was 
just, and at the same time generous. 

While Mr. Dodge was a man of irreproacha- 
bly pure morals, he was not censorious toward 
those who were weaker than himself in this re- 
spect. He acted on the maxim of the ancient 
sage, " Exercise the widest charity toward the 
failings of your fellow-men and the severest 
scrutiny of your own." His business integrity 
was above suspicion, and instinctively men felt 
confidence in the justice and honor they would 
meet in dealing with him. He had the mag- 
nanimity which appreciates the just claims of 
others and yields to them as readily as it asserts 
its own. His intellect was as capacious as his 
sense of justice, and as he felt the rights of 
others, so he saw the reasons for or against any 
proposition or course of action far more clearly 
than most men. Therefore his opinions were 
well founded in reason, and were respected 
by the most acute even when they were not 
enforced by argument. When one differed in 
opinion from Mr. Dodge he had good cause to 
review the grounds of his own opinion, lest there 

57 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

might be arguments which he had overlooked, 
and which Mr. Dodge had considered. 

His mind was alert as well as powerful, and 
with a ready wit and happy flow of language 
he was powerful in argument, and would have 
shone at the bar if he had made choice of the 
legal profession. Indeed we may well believe 
that he would have excelled in almost any 
sphere, for in every position to which he was 
called he proved himself more than equal to the 
occasion. 

Men of good judgment who knew him well 
have often expressed the conviction that he 
would have distinguished himself in public life, 
had not ill health placed such a career beyond 
the possibilities. As a young man he had some 
ambition in that direction, which, after the suc- 
cess of his business was assured, might well 
have been gratified. But his physician had 
warned him many years before his death to give 
up all ambition, and there was nothing for it 
but to heed the warning. 

The death of Mr. Dodge made a profound 

impression upon the people of all the region in 

which he had lived as the foremost man among 

them. Though there have been men of wider 

58 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

distinction in certain directions, it is not too 
much to say that as a well-rounded and com- 
plete character there has been no one who could 
be said to surpass him among the many great 
men of whom Essex County has been proud. 
His achievements far surpassed those of ordinary 
successful men, but Mr. Dodge was greater than 
any of his achievements. 

Dying just before his fifty-fifth birthday, 
he was survived by many who had watched 
his entire career from the days when, as a boy 
of twenty, without money or influence, he had 
estabHshed himseK among them. They, and the 
younger generation too, who knew him only in 
his later years, united in paying tributes to his 
memory. His loss was felt keenly by the pub- 
lic, and it will be long before the splendid record 
of his hfe can be forgotten by those among 
whom he Hved. 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICE 

The funeral of Mr. Dodge was private, but he 
liad been so prominent a citizen and so much of a 
public man that it was felt to be only fitting that 
the people generally should have an opportunity to 
gather and pay tribute to his memory. Consequently 
a number of his fellow-citizens made arrangements 
for a memorial service, which was held at the Uni- 
tarian church on Sunday afternoon, November 16, 
and was attended by many representative citizens, 
including the members of the city government and a 
large number of the business and professional men 
of the city. The church was simply and appropri- 
ately decorated with flowers. 

The service opened with an organ voluntary, after 
which the devotional exercises were conducted by 
Rev. Samuel C. Beane, D. D., and there was singing 
by the choir. Hon. John J. Currier presided. In 
his opening remarks he spoke as follows : — 

REMARKS OF HON. JOHN J. CURRIER 

Ladies and Gentlemen : 

We have assembled here to-day to pay a trib- 
ute of respect to the memory of one who has 

60 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICE 

been closely identified with the business inter- 
ests and public life of this community. We 
do not seek to magnify his virtues or claim 
for him attributes that he did not possess. 

Men as we find them, in this world of ours, 
are never perfect, never absolutely free from 
idiosyncrasies, never without some slight fault 
or weakness, never so thoroughly consistent in 
conduct and character as to be beyond the reach 
of criticism ; and yet we can with propriety 
commend their virtues and express our admira- 
tion and appreciation of their work and influ- 
ence in pubHc or in private life, although they 
may have done some things they ought not to 
have done and left undone many things that 
they ought to have done. 

Since the incorporation of Newburyport, in 
1764, men Hving within the limits of the town, 
like William Bartlett and Moses Brown, not to 
mention others of a later date, have acquired 
large fortunes by business enterprise and sa- 
gacity, while still others educated for a profes- 
sional life have attained honor and distinction 
in the pulpit or at the bar. But looking back 
over the long list of worthy men who have been 

prominent in this community I find no one who 

61 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

has combined, in his own personality, business 
ability and intellectual vigor so thoroughly or 
effectually as Hon. Elisha P. Dodge, whose life 
and character we commemorate to-day. 

With natural abihties of a high order, he was 
well equipped for the work he was called to do, 
and without the advantages of a liberal educa- 
tion, he was quick to apply the knowledge that 
he gathered from men and books. 

In the management of public affairs he was 
wise and sagacious ; in business, shrewd and 
skillful ; in private life quiet and unostentatious. 
A judicious reader, a sound thinker, and a ready 
writer, he was also fond of club hfe, and a lover 
of out-of-door games and sports. 

I shall not attempt to analyze his character 
or try to trace the growth and development of 
his intellectual faculties from early youth to ma- 
ture manhood. His habit of thought made him 
what he was, — a broad-minded and many-sided 
man, — as will appear when the story of his life 
is told by those who have been invited to speak 
of him from different points of view. I there- 
fore ask you to give your attention to a brief 
presentation of the facts relating to his public 
life by his Honor Mayor Brown. 

62 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICE 
MAYOR brown's ADDRESS. 

The part assigned me upon this occasion is 
to speak of Mr. Dodge as a pubhc man, to make 
some mention of his service in official station, 
to which he was repeatedly elected by his fellow- 
citizens, and to call to your attention his honora- 
ble record in the many semi-pubhc corporations, 
associations, and trusts with which he was iden- 
tified and for which he was always sought. Be- 
side his record in those various places, I shall 
beg leave to make some brief allusion to his 
character in that broader sense in which, whether 
in or out of office, he was preeminently a pub- 
lic man, always with practical, decided views 
upon every question affecting the public weal. 

Mr. Dodge entered the city government in 
the year 1871 as a member of the common 
council. In 1875, and during the two years 
following, he was a member of the school com- 
mittee, and afterward, from 1885 to 1889, he 
again served upon that important board. In 
December of the year 1889 he was elected mayor 
of the city, taking his seat in January, 1890, 
and being reelected for the succeeding year. 

During Mr. Dodge's membership in the 
63 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

school committee, and in fact throughout his 
life in Newburyport, he displayed the highest 
interest in educational problems. He was un- 
questionably one of the strongest forces in the 
advancement and development of new and im- 
proved methods in our own school system. I 
understand that he took especial interest in the 
installation of the training school for teachers, 
in the year 1889 ; that it was largely through 
his efforts, joined to those of the late Mr. Bliss, 
and with two other gentlemen, still living, that 
the important undertaking was carried into 
effect. 

From its commencement that school has been 
a complete success ; it has accomplished all that 
its promoters foresaw and hoped for it. It af- 
fords to young women of our city the higher 
training that in these days of progress is con- 
sidered necessary in the teaching of even pri- 
mary and grammar branches. 

Graduates of the school are among our own 
successful teachers, and many of them have 
found honorable and profitable employment in 
their profession in other cities. 

During a part of the time that Mr. Dodge 

was connected with the school committee he 

64 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICE 

was likewise one of the board of trustees of the 
Putnam Free School, of which last-named body 
he was a member until his death. 

It is not my purpose to speak of certain con- 
troversies which from time to time, during the 
past twenty years, have occurred between these 
boards in the affairs of the High and Putnam 
schools ; to do so at this time and in this place 
would be most unseemly. I make mere allusion 
only to have an opportunity to af&rm with ab- 
solute conviction that Mr. Dodge in the dual 
responsibility thus placed upon him never 
swerved from a just, straightforward course ; 
whatever he advised in relation to those schools 
was, in its last analysis, for the equal good of 
each and for the distinct advantage of the city. 
His duties as a trustee and as a citizen were 
never for one moment confused in his clear, 
impartial mind. 

The course of legislation in the city council, 
as shown by the records during the adminis- 
tration of Mr. Dodge, makes it plain that his 
strong personality was most effectual therein. 

Among public men it is always interesting to 

note the especial trait of character, the peculiar 

gift, the particular method which commands for 

65 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

them influence and success among their fellows. 
There are men who ride to power and there are 
those who crawl. Some individuals possess a 
certain magnetic quality that attracts and holds 
the allegiance of other men, almost against their 
judgment and their will, and there are men who 
arrive at power through a gift of generalship 
in all affairs ; skill in diplomacy is theirs, and 
the nicest tact, sometimes but another name for 
policy not always wholly honorable. 

Mr. Dodge, I am convinced, owed his own 
great influence upon men in his administration 
and wherever else it was exerted to the fact 
that his opinions and his plans were always 
thoroughly thought out from their beginning 
to their conclusion, — every issue, collateral or 
direct, every possible consequence was carefully 
considered and foreseen. In his own mind his 
plan was clear. It was presented in plain, terse 
English, and he was supported by a quality of 
reasoning not easily to be gainsaid. 

To his wise counsel while mayor of the city 
we are indebted for the great improvement in 
the condition of our highways which has been at- 
tained in the last ten years. The practice, which 

he advised and inaugurated, of adding every 

66 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICE 

year to the number of our finished streets has 
been followed by every later administration. 
Our people should not forget at whose instance 
the work of macadamizing our highways was 
begun. 

In his conduct of city affairs Mr. Dodge was 
always an economist, but not in a miserly or 
narrow sense. While doing all in his power 
to prevent waste and extravagance he advised 
and permitted even large expenditures when 
the pubHc need was manifest and when it 
was shown that the money's worth would be 
obtained. 

I noted in the aldermanic record that it was 
very early in Mr. Dodge's administration that 
the first city ordinance was passed for the pro- 
tection of our trees. In this connection I may 
bring to your notice Mr. Dodge's membership 
in the City Improvement Society — of that as- 
sociation he was for many years the president. 
In that position, doubtless, he used his custom- 
ary effort in making the society the beneficent 
agency which it really is in our city hf e. 

As a member of the permanent directorate 

of the public library, Mr. Dodge's advice and 

experience and his cultivated taste were of 

67 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

the highest value to his colleagues, and to the 
people. 

In the concerns of the Anna Jaques hospi- 
tal Mr. Dodge's devotion was peculiar and 
unfaiHng. As treasurer of the corporation he 
bestowed his care upon its financial welfare, re- 
membering it substantially in his will ; but be- 
side and beyond all this, so ardent was his wish 
to see the establishment complete in all its parts, 
lacking nothing that should add to its efficiency, 
that he made a personal study of hospital work, 
investigating all modern appliances and con- 
veniences, all new discoveries, all hospital his- 
tory in fact, that this institution might be 
perfect of its class. 

Upon questions of State and national politics 
Mr. Dodge stood with the KepubHcan party. 
His individuaHsm was too great to be bounded 
entirely by what are known as party lines, upon 
points of minor importance, but in general and 
upon the really great issues of the time he was 
a stanch Kepublican. He was present as a dele- 
gate from the Essex district at the national con- 
vention of the party in 1892, when Benjamin 
Harrison was nominated for the presidency. For 
years he was a member and chairman of our 

68 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICE * 

Republican city committee, and he carried to 
that body the same systematic attention to de- 
tails of every nature that throughout his Hfe 
was so conspicuous in whatever he undertook. 

Any account of Mr. Dodge's pubKc life would 
be incomplete and inadequate that should pass 
without mentioning his career as a great mer- 
chant and manufacturer. That phase will 
doubtless be treated in detail and at length by 
another speaker, but it cannot be improper here 
to say at least a word in recognition of the 
talent, I may say the genius, which conceived 
and wrought into wonderful success the great 
industrial enterprise which bore his name and 
which I suppose comes first to many minds as 
they recall the things accomplished by him of 
whom we speak this afternoon. 

I know full well that this short address fails 
to do justice to its subject. A summary of 
certain places of honor and of trust held in 
his lifetime by one departed, some few specific 
deeds of his recalled, with here and there a 
note of comment and appreciation, — that, you 
say, is all. 

I pray you, then, that you regard this sketch 
as but an index or a text, which if you follow 

69 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

in your minds shall indicate the person and the 
memory of a man who doubtless had his faults, 
but who in respect of combined and varied 
powers, gifts, attributes was in this community 
the central figure, as he passed away. About 
that figure there are higher, lighter, and warmer 
tints than those thus far presented, and their 
portrayal is happily confided to a closer inti- 
macy and a finer touch than mine. 

It is for the memory of Elisha Perkins Dodge 
as a broad, high-minded citizen that I invoke 
your deep respect, your high regard. 

In his last inauguration address these words 
occur : — 

" Every man should have an opinion on pub- 
lic affairs, and express it and act upon it on all 
fitting occasions." 

This brief sentence might be called the epit- 
ome of Mr. Dodge's convictions and the rule 
of his own life and conduct as a public man. It 
is a rule that every man, without regard to the 
degree of his own knowledge or his own attain- 
ments, may follow if he will. It is a rule which 
every public man must foUow, if he would retain 
his own respect, or in the end, that of his fel- 
low-men. 

70 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICE 

In these simple, but wise, strong words, lie 
whose memorial we keep to-day yet speaks to us 
from that dim country whither he has fared. 

At the close of Mayor Brown's address Mr. Cur- 
rier said : — 

In the words just spoken the public life and 
character of Mr. Dodge have been, I think, fully 
and faithfully presented for your consideration. 
A gentleman for many years associated with 
him in industrial enterprises has consented to 
speak of him as a manufacturer and man of 
business. I now have the honor to introduce 
Mr. Charles A. Bliss of this city. 

ADDRESS OF MR. CHARLES A. BLISS. 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

One does not need to live long to know that 
this world does not produce men of unerring 
judgment, perfect attainment or character. So 
many men make partial or total failure, either 
financial or moral, it is the more profitable and 
encouraging to contemplate the lives of men 
who have attained marked development of char- 
acter and ability, — men who have held high 
ideals of integrity coupled with energy and 

71 



ELISHA PEKKINS DODGE 

ambition for great attainment, and who in spite 
of obstacles, distracting and discouraging en- 
vironment, and in spite of mistakes, have per- 
severed in a constant, consistent, and determined 
manner in a course of life which has appeared 
to them to be right and best, and who have, as 
the result, secured in their spheres success which 
the world may well honor, and which we do 
well to study. 

It is right that we should recount the virtues 
and the accomphshments of such men, for their 
influence is great. 

It is in memory of such a man that we are met 
to-day. Representing those who have known 
him by intimate association for many years, I am 
sure that the words which I shall say in praise 
and appreciation of the late Elisha P. Dodge may 
appear to you to be both fitting and deserved. 

I have known him as a man of fixed and 
positive ideas of right and wrong, based upon 
a careful study of fife and men ; moreover, as a 
man of fixed purpose to do right and to deal 
justly by all. I believe that he always adhered 
to this purpose, while he vigorously worked to 
attain his ambition to be an influential factor in 
the business world and a leader among men. 

72 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICE 

That liis achievements have been great, yon- 
der buildings which he kept fully busy with the 
hum of industry for many years testify ; that 
his business methods have been exceptionally 
fair and praiseworthy, hundreds of men who 
have worked for him freely admit. That his 
influence and example for uprightness, strict 
honesty^ and industry have always been strong 
and unqualified, our merchants and bankers 
know by profitable experience, for they have 
gained much and lost nothing. 

Mr. Dodge's influence and reputation as an 
honest and able man were not confined to any 
narrow limits. In the wholesale markets, as at 
home, his rating for real worth, moral and finan- 
cial, has always been high. Fortunate indeed 
was the house which enjoyed his patronage ; 
moreover, the fact that he was in any way con- 
nected with an enterprise was all that was needed 
to inspire complete confidence. 

In almost every city in the United States, 
during the active days of Mr. Dodge's career 
as a manufacturer, his name stood for quahty, 
honest value, fair treatment, and good service. 
He always impressed upon his associates the 
need of recognizing the customer's rights. No 

73 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

citizen of Newburyport has done more to make 
the name of our city known, and favorably 
known, throughout our country. 

Such a career is never the result of chance, 
special opportunity, or other fortunate circum- 
stances. Lives which are permanently success- 
ful are based on character and real ability. 
These qualities Mr. Dodge possessed to a 
marked degree. 

His career was the natural result of the de- 
velopment of certain marked characteristics 
which were prominent even in his young man- 
hood. Those who knew him as a young man 
speak of him especially as one who had the 
capacity and the disposition to learn his lessons 
and to learn them thoroughly. His mind was 
clear, his judgment excellent. He was an ex- 
ample to his fellows as a student. His mind 
grasped the subject, which he studied in all its 
aspects. What he learned he made his own, 
and retained. 

I attribute Mr. Dodge's success to the vigor 
of his mind, the habit of close, detailed study, 
a great capacity for work, and confidence in 
himself when working along lines which he 

had thought out to their remotest conclusions. 

74 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICE 

These qualities alone would not have brought 
success. We must take into account his habits 
of frugality, temperance, faithfulness to the 
details of his business, his thorough, systematic 
methods, his native and habitual honesty, and 
his strict performance of his promises, together 
with good judgment of men, all important re- 
quisites, but really all the outcome of the first 
great requisites, a good mind and a capacity 
for work. 

These characteristics of mind and disposition 
which were noticed in early life were prominent 
throughout his whole career, and were such as 
would have given him success in any field of 
enterprise he might have chosen. 

Mr. Dodge was a man given to much thought 
and study, even to the little details of his busi- 
ness. He never did anything haphazard. He 
was moderate rather than quick ; but there was 
no time lost, every minute counted for thought, 
and when the time came for action his judg- 
ment seldom erred. 

From a careful consideration of his life, I am 
satisfied that another of the great reasons for 
his success was his habit of making a definite 
plan, after thorough consideration, for every 

75 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

enterprise which he undertook, and a persever- 
ing adherence to that plan until he was satisfied 
that he was wrong, when he would as industri- 
ously seek a new solution for the problem. 

His habit of doing his own thinking is well 
illustrated by the incident of his first going to 
Troy, N. Y., to work for his brothers. He had 
long wanted to make this beginning of his 
career, and much correspondence had passed 
between the brothers. They were quite willing 
that he should come, but he was wilHng to go 
on one and only one basis, and that the one 
which he had thought upon and to which he 
adhered because he thought he saw success in 
the plan which he had made. 

A man so hard to move from his conviction, 
whose position is the result of thought and 
not stubbornness, is hard to withstand, and Mr. 
Dodge commenced to learn the shoe business 
along lines which appealed to him as wisest, 
the brothers allowing him to commence work 
in the cutting department of the factory, as he 
had suggested. 

From the first he had his eye on the practical 
end of the business, the making of patterns, the 
sorting and cutting of stock ; and in these de- 

76 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICE 

partments he became expert because he studied 
them and improved on what he saw about him. 
He imitated only that which appealed to him 
as wise, and declined to do things by methods 
which may have been common, but which were 
not economical and practical. 

He never imitated anything until he had 
studied the reasons for doing work in any given 
way. If a plan was good and proved success- 
ful in the hands of others, he adopted it. It is 
but natural that such a man should have pro- 
fited much by the mistakes of others. This habit 
of imitativeness was recognized as a prominent 
characteristic of Mr. Dodge in his younger days. 
He had marked abihty to understand and to 
accomplish what he saw others do, in some cases 
showing much mechanical ability. 

Mr. Dodge's grand business career, which 
covered about thirty-eight years, and which 
meant so much to him in the expenditure of 
thought, ingenuity, real labor and care, which 
would have been the undoing of many, and 
which taxed his strength to the utmost, can be 
quickly recited. 

At seventeen years of age he commenced to 

work for his brothers at Troy as a shoe-cutter. 

77 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

He learned so quickly that he had mastered 
thoroughly within two years all the rudiments 
of the business, which in those days was done 
in smaller volume and on a wholly different 
basis than now. His opportunity to study all 
departments, to judge of materials and the best 
way to put them together, was excellent. He 
was therefore ready and able within a short 
time to take charge of the business established 
with his brother at Lynn, his own contribution 
to the capital being just one hundred dollars. 
Because of good borrowing facilities with the 
banks in this city, the business was removed, 
after four months, to Newburyport, where the 
rooms directly over the First National Bank 
were used as the first Dodge shoe factory in this 
city. 

At the end of another year we find Mr. 
Dodge, still a minor, at the head of a firm 
which did business on a considerable scale and 
which was successful from the very beginning. 

The business soon demanded larger quarters, 
and a frame building on Pleasant Street was 
erected for this firm, whose business grew 
rapidly because of their commendable business 

methods and the merit of their product. 

78 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICE 

Various partnerships existed from 1867 to 
1873, at which time the first section of the pre- 
sent brick factory of the E. P. Dodge Co. was 
built. To suppose that Mr. Dodge's course was 
all easy saiHng during these early years would 
be far from right. From men who observed 
Mr. Dodge in those days, I know that he 
worked early and late. His activities were con- 
stant. He allowed nothing to escape his over- 
sight; moreover, all students of history know 
of the great financial crisis which Mr. Dodge 
passed through with safety because of his good 
credit, good judgment, and careful management. 

It is a significant fact that very early in his 
career he gained the confidence of the moneyed 
men of our community, which confidence he 
has always held to a remarkable degree. The 
business began to grow so rapidly that in 1875 
it became necessary to build a second section of 
the factory, and this section was made to front 
on Prince Place. The buildings as they now 
exist were completed in 1880, the business con- 
tinuing to be operated by E. P. Dodge & Co., 
up to the year 1889, when the E. P. Dodge 
Manufacturing Company was formed, which 
continued to the present year. 

79 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

In 1881, Mr. Dodge built the large factory 
now occupied by the Newburyport Shoe Co. 

The volume of business which the various 
concerns managed by Mr. Dodge have done is 
almost incredible, running into many millions 
of dollars; a remarkable record this, covering 
about thirty-eight years of good, clean, safe 
business. Not many records can be produced as 
clear. Such a record shows out the more clearly 
when compared with many large enterprises be- 
gun under more favorable circumstances, which 
have prospered until their managers wearied or 
rusted out, and then resulted in the inevitable 
ruin of many. 

The service which Mr. Dodge has incidentally 
rendered to this city and vicinity and the coun- 
try at large has been great, and should not be 
overlooked. It has been stated that when he 
commenced to manufacture shoes the business 
was in an unsystematized and undeveloped 
state. Usually manufacturers would cut the 
shoe uppers, send them to a contractor to be 
fitted, and to another contractor to be bottomed 
and heeled. This method was expensive, waste- 
ful, inconvenient, and very slow. Mr. Dodge 

was one of the first to combine the many parts 

80 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICE 

of shoe manufacturing under one roof and to 
build and successfully operate a large establish- 
ment where from the raw materials shoes were 
made up complete from start to finish under the 
management and care of one man. Others who 
have followed owe much to the example set by 
him, who was one of the pioneers in the manu- 
facture of shoes on a large scale. 

Many machines have been tested and dis- 
carded, hundreds of others have been improved, 
and are still in use, which Mr. Dodge's estab- 
lishment demanded and aided to their perfec- 
tion. Much credit should be given to him for 
the insight which he had in estimating the 
value of these new inventions, as well as for 
his great generalship, which made a success of 
manufacturing on a large scale where others 
have failed. 

In speaking of the success of these enter- 
prises, I wish to give due credit to the able men 
who have been associated with Mr. Dodge, 
some of them for many years, and who have 
always given him their hearty cooperation. 

Mr. Dodge was a man of great courage and 

faith in the future. When he had demonstrated 

to his own satisfaction that he could make a 

81 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

success in manufacturing, he did not lack the 
courage to attempt larger things, but withal, he 
planned with a large degree of caution for the 
future. 

He built factories in three sections, planning 
that as he needed more space he could get it 
without the loss of time in the operation of his 
business, and without the loss of any material 
in the construction. The three factories in one, 
and yet distinct, is a monument to his wisdom 
and his foresight. It is safe to say that what- 
ever he built was carefully planned on paper, 
and existed in his brain long before the excava- 
tions for his buildings were made. Like every- 
thing else he did, the foundations were laid in 
thought and real wisdom. This city has much 
reason to be thankful for an institution in her 
midst so safe and constant in its operation. Its 
value to the community cannot be overesti- 
mated. 

One cannot but remark the almost entire 
absence of bitter feeling between employer and 
employee which has characterized the business 
operations of Mr. Dodge. It is but natural that 
during a period when machinery was fast taking 
the place of methods of work by hand, there 

82 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICE 

should be some temporary misunderstandings, 
but it is greatly to the credit of this man that 
he endeavored, and was usually able, to see the 
workman's side of the question as well as his 
own, and it was not often that mutual confi- 
dence was not quickly restored. 

I wish to make the point that Mr. Dodge 
prospered because he possessed faculties of 
mind and energy which others do not have, 
and not because it was his policy to buy cheap 
materials or to hire cheap men. The rate of 
wages regulates itself, and quickly finds a level. 
Firms do not, for any considerable length of 
time, prosper because they pay less for labor 
than others, but because they know how to 
utilize labor and materials to better advantage 
than their competitors. Other firms fail because 
they lack this knowledge, and not because they 
are generous with their employees. In ten 
years of active service with Mr. Dodge I never 
knew him to recommend the use of inferior 
quality or even suggest a low price for labor. 

It has been my privilege to know some of 
the mechanics who erected the factory buildings 
for Mr. Dodge. They speak of him as method- 
ical and exact. It is to his credit as a business 

83 



ELISHA PEEKINS DODGE 

man that he had the faculty of getting every- 
thing into a contract which might be considered 
essential. He studied buildings and materials 
as he did shoes and men, and was fully in- 
formed. He wanted the greatest value at the 
lowest expenditure consistent with getting the 
desired result. Men who are wiUing to pay 
more must charge it to ignorance, not gen- 
erosity. 

In fact, Mr. Dodge was thoroughly consistent. 
He recognized as a young man that if he were 
to amount to anything he must make every 
moment, every scrap of material, and every cent 
count. Whatever he did was a result of all the 
information which he could then obtain. He is 
to be commended because he had the faculty 
for ascertaining what was better in materials, 
and what was cheaper in the mode of construc- 
tion which his purpose required. 

Had he been less diligent, less thoroughly 
informed, his success would have been less, his 
service to the community far smaller. The quali- 
ties which made him rich made him also a pro- 
ducer of shoes in which value and utility were 
the chief characteristics. The same qualities 
made him for more than a quarter of a century 

84 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICE 

a buyer who never failed to pay every cent he 
owed, and aided to keep his works busy many 
seasons when business was at a standstill else- 
where. 

Newburyport and the business world have 
reaped an inestimable revenue because of his care- 
ful expenditure and management. He was true 
to his trust. How many men have transacted 
so much business, built up so many buildings, 
sold so many goods, employed so many work- 
men, and have an equal record for exactness in 
the fulfillment of their promises and contracts ? 

For many years Mr. Dodge was a director, 
and finally the president of the Mechanics Na- 
tional Bank, also a member of the board of 
trustees and board of investment of the Institu- 
tion for Savings, and he made a most ef&cient 
officer, one who influenced the policy of the 
banks to a large degree. 

He manifested in his work at the banks the 
same dihgence and good judgment which have 
always characterized him in his own business. 
Regular in his attendance at all meetings of the 
board, he came fully equipped with exceptional 
knowledge of values, of men, and of affairs. No 
more practical or rehable man ever served on 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

the directorate of a bank. The public cannot 
too fully appreciate the faithful services of such 
men, who by their shrewd and careful manage- 
ment have helped to make our banks the per- 
manently safe institutions for which this city is 
noted. 

Mr. Dodge's judgment of character was ex- 
cellent; moreover, his knowledge of successful 
manufacturing made his facilities for judging 
the probability of success for the enterprises of 
would-be borrowers far above the average. 

He was quiet and reserved in expressing his 
opinion until he had considered all of the rea- 
sons for or against any given policy. I knew 
from personal experience that his opinion was 
sought and greatly valued by banking houses 
and private firms doing a great credit business. 

I have spoken of Mr. Dodge as I have seen 
him and knew him. You who have not known 
him as I have described him may not have as 
good a vantage point from which to view and 
study his character. During the past few weeks 
I have had opportunity to talk with many men 
and women who have known him as an em- 
ployer for years, and the universal testimony 
has been that in addition to being the wise and 

86 



THE MEMORIAL SERVICE 

able director of affairs, Mr. Dodge was an hon- 
orable employer who never intentionally did or 
allowed an injustice to be done to any one he 
employed. 

I count it a great honor and a privilege to 
have had the confidence and intimate acquaint- 
ance of such a man, one who was ever courte- 
ous and just to the best of his knowledge, one 
who was so clear-headed, so well informed, one 
who was so thorough in everything he thought 
and did, one so versatile that there were few sub- 
jects which he could not discuss off-hand with 
profit for those who listened, yet one who was 
frank to admit that he did not know, if it hap- 
pened that he was not informed. 

Mr. Dodge was a remarkable man in that he 
never pretended that he knew about any sub- 
ject which he did not fully understand. No pre- 
tension, no ostentation, no false pride, a willing- 
ness to learn from any one, even the humblest 
in his employ, a man who was as approachable 
when he was independently wealthy as when he 
was at the beginning of his career. It is a re- 
markable fact that this man did not change his 
habits or his demeanor as his wealth and re- 
sources increased. 

87 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

He gained his success because of real abil- 
ity and great steadiness, and he accepted his 
reward with modesty and gentlemanly dignity. 
Those who knew him best respected him most, 
valued his advice, and trusted his word im- 
plicitly. His life and work hold up to us high 
standards for endeavor and should encourage us 
to strive to make our lives noble and our influ- 
ence good. 

After the close of the remarks made by Mr. Bliss 
Mr. Currier said : — 

Although Mr. Dodge was prominent in the 
public Hf e of this city, and active and energetic 
in business, he thoroughly enjoyed recreation 
and relaxation and devoted much time to the 
consideration of the political and economic 
questions of the day. 

What he did and what he said at the social 
and literary clubs of which he was a member is 
the subject of a paper that has been prepared 
for this occasion, and will now be read by Mr. 
Nathan N. Withington of Newburyport. 

[The substance of Mr. Withington's address has been em- 
bodied in the Biographical Sketch with which this volume be- 
gins, and it is consequently omitted here.] 

88 



PRESS NOTICES 

FROM THE NEWBURYPORT HERALD, OCTOBER 1, 1902. 

Hon. E. p. Dodge died at his home on High 
Street, on Tuesday afternoon, after a brief illness. 

Mr. Dodge indulged in a game of golf at the 
Country Club last week, and took cold as a result of 
becoming overheated. Last Wednesday he went to 
Boston and returned in the afternoon very ill. He 
took to his bed immediately, and on Thursday morn- 
ing pneumonia had developed. The disease was not 
very severe at first, and but for an organic derange- 
ment with which he has for several years been af- 
fected, his physicians would have felt encouraged. 
As it was, grave doubts as to his recovery were enter- 
tained from the first. Dr. J. F. Young was constantly 
with Mr. Dodge during the last forty-eight hours 
of his life, and in addition an eminent specialist was 
called in consultation on Monday. 

Elisha Perkins Dodge was born in Ipswich, Oct. 
5, 1847, and got his education in the public schools. 
At the age of sixteen years he engaged as assistant 
in the survey for the Schenectady & Catskill Eail- 
road in the State of New York. He then entered as 

89 



ELISHA PERKmS DODGE 

a clerk with his brother, M. W. Dodge of Troy, in 
that State, a manufacturer and retail dealer of 
shoes, where he learned the rudiments of a business 
in which he attained to such eminent success. In 
1865 he returned to Massachusetts and became a 
partner with his brother, N. D. Dodge, in the shoe 
manufacture in Lynn. He sold out his share in the 
partnership to his brother, and removed to New- 
buryport in May, 1866, and engaged as foreman of 
the shoe factory of Dodge & Balch. On December 
21, 1867, he began on his own account the manufac- 
ture of ladies' shoes on Pleasant Street, and though 
but twenty years old, he commanded success from 
the beginning, employing the first year about thirty 
hands and doing a fifty thousand dollar business. 
Since the business has steadily increased, and at one 
time it was, and perhaps still is, the largest manu- 
factory of women's boots and shoes in the United 
States. 

In 1889 the firm was changed into a corporation 
under the name of the E. P. Dodge Manufacturing 
Company, of which Mr. Dodge was president, as he 
was also of the successor, the present C. A. Ellis Co. 
He was also president of the Newburyport Shoe 
Company, established in 1890. 

Mr. Dodge served on the common council in 1871, 
and from 1875 to 1877 and 1885 to 1889 on the school 
committee, and as mayor of the city for 1890 and 1891, 
and for several years he has been one of the perma- 

90 



PBESS NOTICES 

nent directors of the Public Library. Mr. Dodge 
was a director of the Mechanics National Bank from 
1877 until it was merged into the Ocean Bank, of 
which he was a director at the time of his death. 
He was also a director of the Newburyport Gas 
and Electric Company for many years under its old 
management, and on the recent transfer of a majority 
of the stock to out-of-town holders he was retained 
on the board of directors. From the beginning he 
has been active in the management of the Anna 
Jaques Hospital, and was treasurer of that institu- 
tion. 

Mr. Dodge was a life-long Kepublican and served 
on the city committee a series of years, being its 
chairman in 1883. He was a delegate from the sixth 
congressional district to the Kepublican national 
convention in 1892, which renominated Benjamin 
Harrison. 

The deceased became interested in Masonry when 
a young man and was a past master of St. John's 
Lodge. He was also a member of King Cyrus Chap- 
ter R. A. M., and Newburyport Commandery, 
Knights Templar. For years he has been on the 
board of Putnam School trustees, and a vice-presi- 
dent and member of the board of investment of the 
Institution for Savings. 

Mr. Dodge has been successful in his business, 
highly respected by the community, happy in his 
family and the prosperity of his sons, and fortunate 

91 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

in all things with the exception of ill health, which 
has been threatening during several years the end 
which has now come.. He was one of the most re- 
markable men ever connected with Newburyport ; a 
business man of great ability and success, he was also 
a good deal more than that, a man of liberal culture, 
of vigorous mind and wide grasp of thought, of fine 
literary taste and gifts as an orator, in music and 
theatricals. Many men of great talents in business 
are very uninteresting apart from their own specialty, 
but Mr. Dodge was one who was an acquisition to 
any society, — of general culture, of reading in many 
departments of knowledge, and of a sound good 
sense which would appreciate both sides of a ques- 
tion, whether it were of business, ethics, politics, or 
religion. He was active in other directions than in 
manufacturing and banking. He was on the execu- 
tive committee of the City Improvement Society, and 
had for several years been president of that society. 
He had also been president of the New England 
Magazine Company, and for years was a leading 
member of the First Religious Society, and so con- 
tinued to the end of his life. Mr. Dodge was a mem- 
ber of the Tuesday Evening and Saturday Night 
clubs, and since they have been consolidated into the 
Fortnightly Club he has also been prominent in its 
discussions. He was also a member of the Dalton 
Club and one of those who organized the Country 
Club last summer. A man of varied interests and 

92 



PRESS NOTICES 

talents, be commanded the respect of men of all 
classes, scholars and workmen, business and profes- 
sional men, as one of superior gifts in whatever he 
might undertake, and a power in whatever society 
he might mingle. Eather stern and severe in serious 
matters, he was bright and witty, genial and com- 
panionable in social gatherings, and his death is a 
serious loss to Newburyport and this part of the 
commonwealth in various ways. Mr. Dodge was a 
man who would have honored any public station how- 
ever high, and would compare well with the men 
who have represented Massachusetts in the Senate of 
the United States. 

In 1870 Mr. Dodge married Kate S., daughter of 
the late John Gray, who survives with their three 
sons, Robert G., assistant attorney-general of the 
commonwealth and president of the common council, 
Edwin S., architect and graduate from the Ecole 
des Beaux Arts of Paris, and Lawrence P., still a 
minor. 

FROM THE EDITORIAL COLUMN OF THE NEWBURY- 
PORT HERALD, OCTOBER 1, 1902. 

The death of Hon. Elisha P. Dodge, which oc- 
curred on Tuesday afternoon, was a severe loss to 
this community, where his remarkable business abil- 
ity had established and maintained a manufacturing 
industry which has given employment to hundreds 
of men and women during a period of thirty-five 

93 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

years. Mr. Dodge established his shoe factory here 
before he had reached his majority, and made a mag- 
nificent success of it from the very first, winning for 
himself an ample fortune and contributing very ma- 
terially to the prosperity of Newburyport and its 
vicinity. He seemed to command success in all his 
undertakings. His service as mayor of the city was 
marked by the establishment of a policy of street 
improvement which so commended itself to the citi- 
zens that it has been followed to the present time. 
He also served the city in other offices, in all of which 
his accurate judgment and keen sense commanded 
respect and was of material public benefit. If im- 
paired health had not interfered to prevent, he might 
have looked forward to much higher and wider 
spheres of public activity in the service of the State 
and nation, since his great executive powers and his 
intelligent grasp of public affairs was felt and appre- 
ciated far beyond the limits of this city, and he could 
reasonably aspire to almost any office within the gift 
of the people of this congressional district or even 
of the commonwealth. Mr. Dodge was not a mere 
business man, though he was one of the foremost in 
that respect. He was also a man of culture, of liberal 
and acute, well-thought-out and well-grounded opin- 
ions in various spheres of knowledge and thought. 
Occupied as he was with business cares, he found 
time for much and well-selected reading, and he was 
scarcely less remarkable for his general intelligence 

94 



PRESS NOTICES 

than he was for his ability as a man of affairs. The 
death of such a man is a serious and severe loss to 
the community where he has been a power to be 
reckoned with for somewhat more than a generation 
of men. It is all the more to be regretted for the 
reason that it seems untimely that a valuable citizen 
should be snatched away before he had reached the 
threshold of old age, and was still esteemed to be in 
middle life. Still there is the thought that he had 
achieved more in his fifty-five years of life than most 
men can point to after reaching a very old age. It 
was a life of crowded activities and successful achieve- 
ment. Such a life is a cheering recollection, even 
though it is sad that it should be cut off ere it was 
fully rounded out. That fact we mourn while we take 
pride in the qualities of mind and character of an 
honored citizen who has been a credit for so many 
years to the city of his residence. 



FROM THE NEWBURYPORT NEWS, OCTOBER 1, 1902. 

Mr. Dodge was a self-made man, and his remark- 
able business success is the best evidence of his 
capacity in that direction. 

An able financier, a man of firm conviction and 
clear discernment, he was a prominent factor in 
making success for other enterprises in which he 
shared an interest. 

He was a man of extraordinary mind, refined in 
95 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

his tastes, in art, music, literature ; a fine speaker, a 
great reader, a deep thinker, and possessing wonder- 
ful gifts in all these lines of refinement and culture. 

Mr. Dodge ever evinced a deep interest in his 
family, and the prosperity of his sons was to him a 
source of the highest gratification. Behind all of his 
austerity of manner, when engaged in the considera- 
tion of business or matters of seriousness, there was 
a pleasant cordiality about him that was the delight 
of his friends. It was at the home gatherings and 
upon social occasions that this trait of his character 
was more manifest. 

What would have been his opportunities in public 
life, had his health not failed him, can only be con- 
jectured. He had talent, wisdom, and ability to fill 
almost any public position within the gift of the 
people. 

Mr. Dodge was one of the most enterprising citi- 
zens of Newburyport, as well as being a loyal resi- 
dent, and his demise will be sincerely regretted by 
every one. Mr. Dodge's last illness was of very short 
duration. The middle of last week he was taken ill 
while in Boston, and was immediately brought home. 
Pneumonia developed, and his constitution was not 
able to stand the attack. His health has been preca- 
rious for years, but his indomitable will kept him up 
and the suffering he endured was never reflected in 
his every-day life. 



PRESS NOTICES 

FROM THE EDITORIAL COLUMN OF THE NEWBURY- 
PORT NEWS, OCTOBER 1, 1902. 

In the death of Hon. Elisha P. Dodge, Newbury- 
port loses one of its prominent citizens, a man of 
sterling character, of remarkable business sagacity, 
and whose success in the industrial life had secured 
him a competence. 

.His years were cut off by a disease that brought 
his career to a close long before the goal of his 
ambition had been reached. His retirement from 
active business life was brought about by a failure in 
health, and at the age of fifty-five, in the prime of 
his manhood, with much remaining undone that he 
wished to do, surrounded by everything worth living 
for, — love, honor, comfort, and wealth, — he must 
needs leave it to answer the summons. 

And so we contemplate his untimely death with 
feelings of profound regret and commiseration. Iden- 
tified with the public life of this city, a conspicuous 
figure in all of its great social functions as long as 
his health permitted it, a leading financier, a pro- 
moter of many quasi-public enterprises, proud of the 
city where he had made his mark and his success, 
Mr. Dodge well ranked as one of our foremost men. 

He succeeded in almost everything to which he 
turned his attention, and it was because of his re- 
markable perspicacity that his opinion was ever 

97 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

courted and valued by his associates, especially in 
matters of financial moment. 

Mr. Dodge was a brilliant public speaker and was 
never at a loss for words to express eloquently and 
tersely what seemed to his listeners most pertinent to 
each occasion. 

He relished this gift deeply, and he seemed to 
speak from his very heart and soul, the words com- 
ing to his tongue and lips as if it were no effort for 
him to frame the sentences. 

Perhaps Mr. Dodge's strongest characteristic was 
his firmness, which made him a leader of men. He 
was never a disinterested associate and never was 
without an opinion upon a matter under serious con- 
sideration. 

He was strong in his convictions, never half-hearted 
in an undertaking. It was with him, " It must be 
done," and those who were with him in a venture 
were impressed with this forcefulness. 

One of the things it was his ambition to see ac- 
complished was the building of the new Anna Jaques 
Hospital, a work in which he was deeply interested. 
The carrying forward of the plans that had been 
elaborated was interrupted by a question affecting 
the title of the land for the new buildings, and so 
the beginning of the work was delayed. 

The hospital loses a good friend, its treasurer, and 
one whose devotion to improving its financial condi- 
tion was beginning to show a full measure of success. 



PRESS NOTICES 

There was in Mr. Dodge's exemplary life much 
that is worthy of emulation, and to the young men 
especially who have their way to make in the world 
by their own energies, his great industry and confi- 
dence should be an inspiration and an example. 

It is no secret that before the failure of his health 
he had some political aspirations, and his friends and 
fellow-citizens were ready to acknowledge the emi- 
nent qualifications he had for greater and for higher 
service than the chief magistracy of the city. It was 
often the expressed belief that he would at some time 
be heard in the halls of Congress, and so we are re- 
minded at this time of how much there was for him 
to do ere he left the world. 

Mr. Dodge will be greatly missed by the people 
of Newburyport, and the " News " wishes to express 
at this time its profound sympathy to the bereaved 
family, and join with the citizens of Newburyport in 
the sorrow felt at so great a public loss. 



FROM THE BOSTON GLOBE, OCTOBER 1, 1902. 

Mr. Dodge was a man who at once took and ever 
afterward occupied a prominent position in this com- 
munity. For years having its largest establishment 
directly under his control, he was by common consent 
the leading man of the city. Of great powers of con- 
centration and execution, he found time aside from 
his ordinary duties to take an active, even the lead- 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

ing part, in organizations charitable, benevolent, and 
social. In business life he was a man of strict integ- 
rity, in social a leader and favorite. Had the condi- 
tion of his health allowed, he would have been heard 
from in a larger political circle ; but perhaps in his 
own branch of industry no name was better known 
throughout the country. 



FROM THE NEWBURYPORT LETTER IN THE BOSTON 
SUNDAY GLOBE, OCTOBER 5, 1902. 

A genuine air of sorrow and mourning has hung 
about the city since Tuesday, when it was learned 
that Elisha P. Dodge was dead. This appearance 
was the more emphasized yesterday, during the hour 
of the funeral, when the big shoe shops, the banks, 
and the public institutions with which the deceased 
had been connected in life ceased their activity for 
the time. 

If a week ago one had been asked to name the 
citizen of Newburyport the most prominent in its 
life and affairs, by common consent the name would 
have been that of Mr. Dodge. He had long been to 
this city what the late Frank Jones, whose demise 
occurred three days later, had been to Portsmouth, 
the man whose name and that of the city were in- 
separably connected. 

As a business man he was entitled to this distinc- 
tion, since from the smallest beginning he had built 
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PRESS NOTICES 

up and successfully managed an industry which ex- 
ceeded in volume and value any other in the city. 

But it was not this alone which gave him promi- 
nence and leadership. His readiness to lend his advice 
and activities to any undertaking which made for the 
general good of the city was always counted on ; and 
once identified with such a movement, the position 
of practical director of affairs seemed naturally to 
be thrust upon him. 

And while it seemed as though the material affairs 
of life must have engrossed all his time, it was not 
so. He entered upon his active career equipped with 
but a limited education as school life gives it; he 
finished it a man of broad culture, fine tastes, and 
an ability to meet and discuss great questions in a 
manner thoughtful, lucid, and contributive. 

As a public speaker he was graceful and apropos. 
Though modest and somewhat distrustful of his own 
powers, he had the full confidence of others, and it was 
always felt that when he was to state a question or 
was selected to advance a proposition, either in public 
or in private conference, it would be well done. 

Mr. Dodge never left an object with which he had 
once become identified without leaving behind some 
permanent mark due to his clear-sightedness and 
energy. In his inaugural address as mayor in 1890 
he spoke at length on the subject of the public 
highways. 

" Their present condition," he said, " is most de- 
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ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

plorable. I£ good roads are an indication of the 
highest civilization, we should not care to be judged 
by what ours are at present. . . . Something must 
be done. The question for us to consider is, What 
can be done within the limit of our means ? Not very 
much in any one year. We can, however, commence 
with the right kind of work, do what we can, and if 
it is followed up by our successors, eventually, and 
in a comparatively few years, we shall have satis- 
factory results." 

But Mayor Dodge's address was not merely aca- 
demical, or the expression of an abstract ideal. 
Having stated the evil, he at once proceeded to lay 
out a plan in detail and describe a method which 
showed careful study and an intimate acquaintance 
with the subject. 

The city council of that year subsequently began 
the reconstruction of the city highways in effect as 
Mr. Dodge had outlined, and the work has been con- 
tinued ever since, until to-day the condition of the 
streets is referred to with local pride, and they stand 
a monument to the foresight and practical application 
of the man. 

Perhaps the on© institution to which he had given 
the most freely of his thought and life outside his 
private business is the hospital. To maintain an in- 
stitution of this kind free to all applicants, while it 
is insufficiently endowed for the purpose, has been a 
problem almost baffling at times ; but difficulties as 
102 



PRESS NOTICES 

they arose have been met and overcome which might 
have resulted differently had it not been for Mr. 
Dodge's efforts. 

There were two sides to Mr. Dodge's life, or per- 
haps better still, it was a whole well equipped and 
poised. In his business relations he was strict, keen, 
perhaps autocratic. " Cold-blooded " many were apt 
to say who failed to remember that it is only by these 
methods that one's success in business life arrives. 

On the other hand, in private life, in social inter- 
minglings, he was peculiarly affable and winsome. 
Whether it was some dignitary he was to meet or 
one of the humblest in his employ, his course was the 
same, — a pleasant greeting, an apt word, an honest 
handshake. 

In secret societies, in musical gatherings, on the 
amateur dramatic stage, he was always welcome, for 
he never failed to contribute largely to the success 
of the occasion. Some of the most interesting and 
thoughtful papers ever read before the Fortnightly 
Club have been his offerings. The Dalton is the 
leading social club of the city. He had been its 
president. 

The funeral services yesterday were privately held, 

and the attendance thereby restricted, but had the 

obsequies been public no edifice in the city would 

have held all who desired to attend, and the spec- 

103 



ELISHA PERKINS DODGE 

tators to a man would have been genuine, sincere 
mourners for one whose departure has left a void 
which will not soon be filled. 



FROM THE CHRISTIAN REGISTER, OCTOBER 16, 1902. 

The death, on September 30, of this able man and 
prominent Unitarian layman warrants more than 
passing mention in the " Register." Born in a quiet 
Ipswich farmhouse, enjoying a district school edu- 
cation, early seeking larger opportunity for a life- 
work than his birthplace afforded, before he reached 
the age of twenty-one he was organizer and head 
of a business which, developing with his increasing 
ability, became one of the largest of its kind in 
America. Dying at a little less than fifty-five years 
of age, he had achieved a business success and per- 
sonal reputation which put him in the first rank of 
men in his own city and far beyond. 

Never too weary for self -improvement, he accom- 
plished a mental culture which many a university 
man might envy. Never too busy with his immense 
cares to act a citizen's part, he filled, and filled to 
the utmost demand, many offices of charity, public 
improvement, and finance, and was a leading spirit 
in organizing and managing some of the best insti- 
tutions of Newburyport. Even in years of failing 
health he gave robust and unfaltering service to 
every good cause he had espoused. As mayor of his 
104 



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PRESS NOTICES 

city he put forth great energy and ability. Higher 
offices were clearly within his reach, had his health 
and inclination consented. 

For several years Mr. Dodge was president of the 
Essex Unitarian Conference, and also of the Essex 
Unitarian Club ; and those who came to the celebra- 
tion of the one hundred and seventy-fifth anniver- 
sary of the First Religious Society, a year ago, were 
charmed by his utterances and by the aptness and 
vitality he, as president, brought to the occasion. 

Mr. Dodge's seat in church was never vacant save 
for extreme cause, and in his last will he remembered 
the First Religious Society. 

He posed not as a great believer or a lofty saint. 

His creed was short and sure, and it mastered his 

life. He leaves a good name, a bright record, and 

an impressive example. 

S. C. Beane. 
Newburyport, Mass. 



105 



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